The Fight for the Shadow
by Violentdaybreak
Summary: We all know that Akashi's orders are absolute. So when the former captain of Teiko orders the other members of the Generation of Miracles to quit their teams and reform their old one, it goes without saying that they all follow without arguing. Well almost. Kuroko tries to fight against him but even the Shadow of Seirin can't win every battle. What'll Seirin do when they find out?
1. The Message

***Author's Note*: **

**Hey everyone! So happy that you guys decided to give this a chance! This is going to be a multi-chapter fic that was kinda just a plot bunny I had I'm fairly new to Kuroko No Basuke and I kinda just read majority of the series in a couple days (I'm dead X.x). I don't know who actually wins in the Winter Cup (I'm at the beginning of the grand final) so the info you read about the results in here are false. Alrighty thanks for reading again! Enjoy!**

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

"I'm gonna die!"

The corner of my mouth twitched in a suppressed smile as I examined my team mates, the lot of them looking on the verge of passing out. I absentmindedly continued to dribble a basketball leisurely with one hand, my other rising to wipe away some of the sweat that had gathered on my forehead.

"Riko… why…?" Hyuuga huffed, hands braced on his knees as he tried to regain his breath. The effort was in vain as, a moment later, he flopped back onto one of the bleachers, his face coloured a pretty vicious shade of red. "It's getting too hot to do that much running!"

"I don't see why you're complaining," the coach of Seirin, Riko Aida, hummed, examining her clipboard before scribbling something down. "You were able to handle that work load during the Winter Cup. Don't tell me you guys put on weight after the competition?"

A chorus of protests arose from the statement but they were fairly half-assed, the team far too tired to put up much of a fight. The coach merely chuckled and left them to recuperate, calling out that they only had ten minutes before training started up again. Load groans followed but she merely ignored them, coming to stand beside me with a small smile on her lips.

Riko had seemed to grow a lot since our near loss at the Winter Cup. Her hair was still short but now it seemed to curl gently around her softer features, her eyes warmer but far wiser. She had grown a few centimetres and, even if it brought a tiny blush to my face, even I had to admit that her chest had gotten slightly bigger. Every day she looked more and more like a young woman.

And yet she still coached like a demoness.

"What about you, Kuroko?" she asked gently, that same smile on her face as she teasingly poked my side. "You haven't put on any weight, have you? You still look as if you might fly away if a gust of wind sweeps past us."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I murmured back, eyes darting over to the others before coming back to rest on her face. Before the Winter Cup, we had been around the same height but now she was much taller, her head having to tilt down to look at me.

"We haven't had a good chance to talk yet," she said after a lengthy pause, lowering her voice so that the others didn't hear. "I know that… what happened at the competition affected you the most."

I shrugged my shoulders, brushing her last comment off with a wave of my hand. "Don't worry," I answered immediately, unconsciously dribbling the ball a little harder. "We'll win next time."

"Definitely," she agreed quickly, a grin snapping into place as she threw an arm around my shoulder. "Especially now that we know you can score baskets too! We'll have to up your training and perhaps get you some sessions with my father and then make sure we do gym sessions and-"

"Run, Kuroko! Quick, before she signs your death warrant!" Captain Hyuuga called, laughing a second later as Riko tossed him a withering glance.

"You're all jerks," she huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms and pursing her lips. "I don't know why I bother! That's it! All of you have triple workloads!" she exclaimed, stomping her foot down.

That sent the entire team into anarchy. I could only watch in faint amusement as the 'too-tired-to-move' team leapt to their feet and yelled in defiance. The coach merely waved the complaints away, crossed her arms and _glared _at them, daring them to defy her.

To this day, not a single person had beaten her when she took on that stance.

I watched as Kagami ran an annoyed hand through his hair before meeting my eyes, a tired smile twitching on his features. He moved over, a towel around his shoulders which he used to dab at his forehead.

"They'll probably turn on you once they realise Riko isn't going to change her mind," he commented, watching the scene alongside me.

"If I minded, they wouldn't be able to find me," I answered.

He nodded in understanding before a sly grin stretched across his face. I stared at him warily before he suddenly moved to steal the ball in my possession, spurring me into backing up and trying to evade him. The two of us laughed as a sudden one-on-one competition arose between us, the small battle ending pretty quickly as I was overwhelmed by Kagami's pure strength.

"Can't even go easy on me just this once?" I huffed, sweat making my bangs stick to my face.

"Aren't you the one who said you didn't want anyone going easy on you?" Kagami shot back, easily dunking the ball and allowing it to roll away from us. I watched it move, something akin to contentment filling me.

Why was I feeling this way?

None of it really made any sense. It had been only a couple weeks since Rakuzan had beaten Seirin by a one-point difference. I knew I should have been upset, we all should have been, but for some reason none of us had ever felt more capable. It was like a switch had been turned inside of each and everyone one of us, the realisation of just how close to #1 we came spurring us into trying even harder to get there next year.

But still…

I had never been one to be satisfied in my position; that's what Teiko had done to me in Middle School. Being 'okay' with my stature was no _okay. _I had to grow, had to advance and evolve into something that was so unbeatable that even the heavens would shake at the sight of me. Since I had never achieved that, it meant I could never be content. That's why this feeling made me feel rather uneasy.

But it was nice nonetheless.

"You heading down to Maji Burger after training?" Kagami asked absentmindedly, glancing over the scene to see whether our Senpai had been killed yet.

"Hm… I suppose so," I mumbled, trying to remember if I had anything on later in the afternoon. When nothing arose, I nodded my head, shooting my partner a look that silently asked if he would be joining me.

"Don't even need to ask," he joked, rubbing his stomach seconds before a large grumble could be heard. "I'm always hungry."

I smiled in understanding before Riko called us back over for the second half of our training. The next hour was fairly horrific and, regrettably, I found my old habit of vomiting afterwards trying to rear its ugly head. I forced the nausea down, determined not to show that weaker side of myself to Seirin, and focused back on the task at hand.

By the time it finished and we had all been allowed access to the changing room, the entire team had to practically drag ourselves to the showers. I clutched at my stomach, secretly glad that I had only eaten the bare minimum for breakfast that morning as I went to go take a shower. The hot water was glorious on my aching skin and I unconsciously began to stretch out my muscles, my fear of being stiff and sore tomorrow outranking my tiredness.

"I thought Coach was tripling our training?" Kagami commented as I walked out of the shower, towel hanging around my hips.

"You're joking," Izuki replied, jaw falling open as he stared in horror at the younger player. "You're not even _tired?!_"

"I had a big breakfast."

"_What does that have to do with anything?!_"

"Whoa! Calm down, you lot!" Kiyoshi laughed, good naturedly patting the provoked Izuki on the shoulder as he strode past. He had just stepped out of the shower, his muscles glittering with water and making his hair stick to his scalp. "I didn't think it was that bad either."

"You're both monsters!"

I chuckled lightly as that same content, happy feeling filled my chest as I walked over to my bag. I took out a pair of comfy shorts and a simple black and blue shirt, getting changed as I listened to the others bickering nonstop. The topic of conversation was a normal one that followed any of our training sessions and I couldn't help but notice that, despite us having lost the Winter Cup, nobody seemed overly discouraged.

Win or lose, we'd had fun.

My pleasant reflection was interrupted as I noticed that there was an uncomfortable weight in my pocket. I frown and reached in, blinking in surprise at finding that I had forgotten my phone was there. The little L.E.D. at the top was flashing and I frowned, wondering as to who would be sending me a text message. I lived in an apartment alone with parents who only ever sent me messages for special occasions so they were out of the question. I was at training so no-one in Seirin could have messaged me.

Ogiwara and I weren't in contact anymore.

_Who else was there that had my number?_

As soon as the question presented itself in my head, I knew the answer. My original happiness slowly began to ebb away as I stared at the dark screen, my hands so stiff that they couldn't even make a move to try and confirm my suspicions.

"Oi, Kuroko, you alright?"

I glanced up from my phone, my blank face having already snapped into place to hide the emotions that had tried to leak out. Kagami was staring at me in concern, his words having spurred the others out of their conversations to stare as well. I swallowed before forcing a nod, tucking my phone back into my pocket for the moment.

"Yeah, fine," I answered evenly, repacking my bag. "Just remembered I was busy after all. Sorry, we will have to visit Maji Burger together another time."

"Oh… yeah, sure," Kagami said, a little surprised. He shrugged his shoulders before moving back off to his own things, exchanging words with Kiyoshi and Hyuuga.

Without a backwards glance, I picked up my bag and moved back off into the deserted gym, my phone already back in my hand. I felt my heart sink as I saw the message was indeed from Kise, the pure ominous feel about it making me feel as if this was not actually from the blonde teen but from someone up higher.

Someone with red hair and oddly coloured eyes…

Upon opening it, I found I was not disappointed. The text may have been from Kise but it was all Akashi's words; simple orders that told me where we were all going to meet this afternoon. It wasn't a request, oh no, this was an order. Kise was just the messenger and I had to remind myself of that as bitterness threatened to overtake my mind. Snapping my phone closed, I shoved it grouchily back into my pocket before moving out of the gymnasium towards the street basketball court that I had been summoned to. I knew this wasn't going to be good and yet I couldn't stop myself from going.

Akashi's orders, even to this day, were absolute.


	2. Absolute Orders

***NOTE*- OMG! I have received so many amazing faves and follows guys! Thank you so much for giving this story a chance XD I was so excited I had to write another chapter! It's still early on in the story so please just give me a little time and it'll begin to get more interesting A big thanks especially to my first two reviewers! You are GORGEOUS! 3**

**Kagami P.O.V.**

"Hey… where did Kuroko go?" Riko asked as we all trailed out of the changing room.

"He's probably around here somewhere," I said dismissively, waving my hand through the air as if to brush the question away. I went and slumped against one of the bleachers, tugging my sneakers on so that I could start heading out for a late lunch.

"Maji Burger?" Kiyoshi called, grinning widely as he caught my eagerness to leave. "Mind if we join?"

"We?"

"We're all hungry, dude," Hyuuga laughed, putting his outdoor shoes on too.

"Fast food actually seems appealing for once," Riko agreed, a smile on her face. She placed her hands on her hips after a few seconds though, her brows once again lowering into a frown. "No, he's definitely not here. Where's Kuroko run off to?"

"Dunno, he said he had somewhere to be," I yawned, pushing myself back onto my feet. "Well, you all coming or what? Kuroko will be fine. He's a grown boy, after all."

"Yeah, coming," Riko muttered, not really sounding convinced. The others all grabbed their bags and together we all walked out, chattering away about senseless nothing as we went to go and grab a bite to eat.

Though, now that I look back on it, I wish I had called Kuroko just to check on him.

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

The first thing that alerted me to their presence was the tension.

I had been walking down the path towards the court when I paused mid-step, closing my eyes for a second so that I could lower the rate of my heart beat. The vital organ was thrumming harshly against my ribcage, making everything inside of me feel tight and painful. I sucked in a lungful of air but found my throat clenching up, the oxygen much thicker than I last remembered it.

When was the last time we had all gathered?

I pushed the thought to the back of my head and forced myself to continue down the path. I could see the old wire fence that ran around it and I found myself dragging my feet, the only visible sign of distress on my otherwise blank form.

I glanced around the corner of the last building before me, staring through the wire fence at the five vivid figures waiting around beyond it. At the sight of them, I had to suck in a long, calming breath and push past the fear. I began walking the distance towards the opening in the gate, keeping my gaze trained on the ground in case I locked eyes with any of the others. Stepping onto the court, I felt a huge wave of pressure begin to fall on my shoulders, the intensity of their stares pulling on my soul.

But the second I raised my head, that pressure disappeared.

Five pairs of brightly coloured eyes met mine, four of them making a little of the tightness in my chest ebb away. Kise smiled at me, something akin to an apology flashing through his yellow irises. Murasakibara seemed relatively distant as usual but that friendly familiarity was still there. Aomine, still trying to hold an air of distance from me, just gave me a curt nod before he uncomfortably looked away. Midorima was the last I looked at, seeing that he was by far the quietest and most reserved of all of them. Of course, that meant only one thing.

Akashi's news wasn't going to be good.

"Tetsuya," my old captain called, his cool voice making me cringe on the inside. I slowly raised my gaze, pressure once again pushing down on my shoulders as I met the mismatched eyes of Akashi. He was the only one amongst our old team that had not undergone a transformation in the last few months. He had not changed his views since Teiko in any way, shape or form.

I had lost to him, after all.

"Akashi," I murmured, nodding my head. I kept my inner thoughts to myself, my outside nothing but a blank canvas just as I had been taught to do in Teiko. Amusement filled his red and golden orbs before he beckoned for me to come closer, obviously pointing out the distance I had made between myself and the others.

"You're later than I thought," he murmured, almost in thought as he allowed his hands to lazily rest in his pockets. His sharp eyes took in everything, not a single detail being able to escape him. "But you came nonetheless, just as I knew you would."

"What's this about, Akashi?" I asked quietly, my gaze flickering over to the other quiet members of our old team before coming back to rest on our captain.

"No proper greeting?" he asked, mouth curling up at the side in a half smile. "Tetsuya, that's not like you. Are you not happy to see us all together?"

"What's this about?" I repeated, something about his words sparking a sense of unease inside of me.

"I went to so much effort, Tetsuya," he sighed, crossing his arms with a tired shake of his head. "I brought us all together just for you. Weren't you the one that wanted us all to be together just like we used to?"

"_What is this about?" _I repeated one last time, an unnecessary amount of force leaking out into my words. Akashi noticed the frustrated and frightened edge in my voice, a smirk once again filling his features.

"I've decided to revoke my orders," he finally answered, red and golden eyes glittering in amusement.

I felt frustration once again surge within me, not understanding what he meant. I went to ask him to clarify when a flicker of movement caught my attention, my body freezing as a warm hand was placed on my shoulder.

"Kurokocchi…" Kise murmured, sad eyes staring down at me. "…You can't… be at Seirin anymore…"

A start went through me and I yanked my shoulder out of his grip. I slowly backed away from the group, a crack in my unapproachable façade appearing. Kise's words rang throughout my mind but I refused to acknowledge them, the whole situation just not making sense.

"What is this?" I demanded, my temper soon replacing the unease in my chest. I narrowed my eyes at my old team mates, trying not to acknowledge the sadness in their vividly coloured orbs.

"The Winter Cup gave me a vision," Akashi continued, a rather indifferent expression coming over his face as he turned to stare out over the street. "It made me realise just how strange it is that all of us, the team that only ever won together, had to battle it out on opposing teams. Tell me you all didn't feel a pang of unease at fighting your own people."

No-one answered him, the lot of us either too scared to object or unable to call the statement a lie. I noticed somewhere dully in the back of my head that the others were refusing to meet my horrified gaze, making a trill of fear arc down my spine.

"I gave you all the ability to split away and have a break for a while," the red-head stated, his tone taking on a sense of finality. "You all got to lull about and play to your content to the extent that majority of you ended up losing to our previous Shadow." Red and golden eyes met mine and I felt myself flinch, something deeper in that gaze that made me feel like prey before him. "My orders for us all to be on separate teams ends as of now."

"What does… what does that even mean?" I asked quietly, eyes wide in horror at what I was hearing.

That smirk again; utterly infuriating and trying to lull me into a false sense of security. "It means the Generation of Miracles will be quitting their high school teams," he answered as if it were the simplest thing in the world. "And will be returning to the team that we formed when we were back at Teiko. The Generation of Miracles will be coming back together."

I felt my heart freeze in my chest, my legs going weak at the sudden shock. Against my will, my face revealed the hurt and horror that the situation brought. I backed away, my head screaming at me to run away as fast as I could and pretend that Akashi hadn't said the words.

But I was caught in that one golden eye.

"Do you not like that idea, Tetsuya?" Akashi asked, feigning surprise as he stared me down. "I don't see why. This is all for you, after all. You wanted us all back together, the way we used to be."

"I… don't want this," I whispered, voice hitching as I dared a glance at the others. I found only sympathy and pity reflected back at me and I felt my turmoil grow, knowing that no-one else was willing to stand up to our captain.

"Are you defying me?"

A cold shudder ran down my spine, my vision dropping down to my shoes as that pressure once again pushed against me. I heard footsteps approach and I seemed to shrink, wishing and willing myself to completely disappear so that I could escape Akashi's wrath.

"Tetsuya… look at me."

The cool, almost gentle voice whispered past my ears and I felt my body become caught in its web. Unwillingly, my head raised, eyes meeting the blank, unapproachable pair that was barely a few centimetres from my own. I froze in fear, body unable to make a move to move away or defend itself. A hand slowly rose and grabbed my chin, nails biting deeply into my skin.

"My orders…" Akashi whispered, breath blowing across my nose and sending my nerves alight. "…Are absolute. Or have you forgotten that after being at Seirin so long?"

My throat closed up, no words being able to make it past the lump that had suddenly seemed to form. I wanted to yell and scream and fight against his orders but my insides were already withering into submission. I was not a person that was born to go against my captain.

No, I was born to follow him for life.

"Be grateful," he suddenly stated, releasing me. "You can all continue at your high schools. But if it gets in the way of our team, it will become a rule that you must all transfer to Rakuzan to attend with me. Is that understood?"

No one made a move to answer, all words having been frozen in our throats before they could develop. Akashi merely nodded his head and dismissed us, disappearing down the street before I could create a single coherent thought.

"Kurokocchi…?"

I snapped out of my daze, heart leaping into my throat as I turned silently towards the other miracles. None of them were happy about it and yet none of them had offered even the most remote amount of support. Without so much as a word, I turned away from the pity and empathy in their eyes and raced down the street, almost as if I were trying to outrun the whole situation.

The entire time I ran, I knew I wouldn't be able to go against Akashi. Every second that passed, I came to realise just what kind of trap I had walked into. With every heavy, laboured breath that passed my lips I felt myself falling deeper and deeper into my pit of despair.

And I came to realise something else entirely.

_I really had lost against Akashi._


	3. The Resignation

**Kagami P.O.V.**

"Oi," I said, a frown creasing my brow as I glanced around the gymnasium. "Where's Kuroko?"

"You mean you only just noticed that he wasn't here?!" Hyuuga called back in disbelief, shooting me a scowl as he prepared to shoot a basket. "What kind of partner are you?!"

I felt heat rush to my face and I spluttered out some stupid excuse that didn't even make sense to my own ears. No one paid me any mind, instead choosing to focus on the triple shift of training that we had earnt after upsetting Riko the day before.

"For every minute that he isn't here, I'm doubling his laps," Riko grumbled spitefully, scribbling down the horrible sentence on her notorious clipboard before shooting me a glance. "Have you tried calling him?"

"He's a grown boy, ain't he?" I scoffed, taking a running start before dunking the ball into one of the nearby hoops. "Is it really necessary for me to go be his nanny?"

"Remember when you let him out of your sight and he picked a fight with a bunch of bullies?"

I felt my confidence trickle away at the words, still unable to banish the memory of that idiot's actions that had nearly made him the target of a bunch of punks. I scratched at the back of my head sheepishly, my gaze once again dropping down to my feet to try and avoid the scrutiny. I heard Riko huff in annoyance and the subject was thankfully dropped in favour of training.

It was half an hour later that I felt a sudden cool breeze hit me. Startled, I paused mid-pass and glanced towards the gymnasium door, barely being able to focus on the blue shadow that trudged inside.

"Kuroko! You're late!" Riko called out, the shrillness of her voice startling everyone out of focus. All eyes turned towards the small body that had, until that moment, been trying to sneak in unnoticed.

But for some reason only seemed to be drawing attention today.

The boy practically jumped out of his skin, his head snapping up to face the team that was staring at him. I noticed somewhere in the back of my head that his skin was extremely pale, dark smudges appearing beneath his duller than usual eyes.

"Oh… I apologise," he mumbled, unable to meet anyone's eyes as he began to shuffle towards the benches. Our gazes followed him, the pure absurdity of his behaviour shocking us into silence.

"Something's wrong…" Kiyoshi muttered, his voice just loud enough for the team to hear but for the distracted boy not to.

I grunted in agreement, quickly claiming a basketball so that I could dribble it towards him. "Oi, Kuroko," I called, stopping a few metres away from the bleachers. "What's wrong with you? You look like someone spilt your Vanilla Shake." A grin unconsciously came to my face as I realised that that was the most likely situation after all. Without really thinking it through, I aimed the basketball straight at his head, expecting him to snap back to reality and deflect it.

So imagine my surprise when it really did hit him in the dead centre of his skull.

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

"Kuroko!"

Stars swam across my vision a fraction of a second after a sharp pain radiated throughout my head. The force of whatever hit me had me falling against the bleachers, the hard wood slamming into my ribcage and side painfully. Air whooshed from my lungs and I lay paralysed for a few moments, trying to get my brain to reboot.

A familiar face leaned over mine, dark eyes wide with worry as his spiky red hair fell over his forehead. Kagami stared down at me, hands waving uselessly in front of him as if he wasn't sure what to do.

"Ouch…" I mumbled, raising a hand to rub at my head. I slowly sat up, wincing as I felt the beginnings of a bruise forming above my brow.

Akashi wasn't going to like that.

The thought slashed through my mind before I could stop it, making me freeze in unconscious fear. My eyes widened and I stared blankly at the Seirin basketball team, seeing them all shouting at a sheepish Kagami who could do nothing but stand there and take it.

…_You can't… be at Seirin anymore…_

My phone vibrated in my pocket mockingly, the entire day being full of gentle coaxing texts from Kise. He knew I didn't want to quit and he knew he was the least likely person I would listen to and yet he was the only one that had taken the time to offer some kind of reassurance. Every single one of his damnable messages had been full of supporting words telling me to be strong and to not forget to make the most of my last practise with Seirin, my team.

My mouth went dry as Riko bypassed the others, coming to stand before me with her hands on her hips. She began to lecture me but I couldn't hear any of it, her mouth moving but no sound being able to enter my ears. I merely stared at her, remembering the first time I had met her and the other second years.

"You're not even listening, are you?!"

"What?" I asked automatically, tipping my head back to meet her eyes. She gave a growl of frustration and turned away, her back tense as she stomped back over to the team.

"Get going you lot! A hundred laps before you're allowed to leave!"

A chorus of voice were raised in protest but they were dull in comparison to Riko's angry shouts. Eventually, the boys began to comply with her wishes like dogs with their tails in between their legs.

I made no move to join them.

"You too, Kuroko!" Riko called, frowning over at my still immobile form.

I didn't move.

"…Kuroko?" she asked again, this time her voice filling with confusion and worry. Her anger was instantly forgotten as she came to sit down beside me, her arm going to wrap around my shoulders. "You okay?"

I went to nod my head but found my body freezing at the simple action. I stared down at the shaking hands in my lap, my heart practically leaping into my throat as they began to creep across to my bag against my will. I slowly undid the zipper of my bag, ignoring the curious stare I was receiving as I pulled out a single, near-empty form that I had signed. I handed it to her, too scared to raise my gaze and see the emotions that would instantly seep to the surface.

"…What is this…?"

I zipped my bag back up, getting to my feet before walking around her to get to the steps. My voice didn't seem to be working as I stood once more upon the Seirin basketball court, my eyes roaming over the people running laps. My eyes hungrily drank in the sight of them, imprinting their image into the deepest crevices in my mind so that they would forever be with me. I locked every single fun, happy, angry or even sad memory I had experienced with them into a tiny box along with their images, knowing that the time I had spent with them was, as of now, officially over.

"Kuroko, what the hell is this?!" Riko demanded, her voice ringing loudly over the court. Everyone paused in what they were doing, turning to glance at their obviously distressed coach. The paper I had handed her was crumpled in her shaking fist, her eyes wide in indignant anger and genuine fear as she stared only at me. "_What is this?!_"

My tongue darted out of my mouth, trying to bring some moisture to my chapped and dry lips. I met her eyes squarely before they drifted away, my body already turning away before I could stop it.

"My resignation," I answered, banishing any distress from my voice. "This is the last time I play for Seirin." I moved towards the door, my hand resting upon the cold door that remained as the last barrier that kept me a part of this team. "I would like to…" I paused at this, having to swallow past the lump that had formed in my throat. "I would like to thank you all for taking care of me… Goodbye…"

Before a protest could be made, I pushed through the double doors, a cool breeze picking up and swirling around me. I shuddered and stared up at the lowering sun, watching as the shadows of the world lengthened and seemed to grow in intensity.

This was my world.

I took off down the street, barely even having to try to blend in with the world around me. With every step that was made, I felt my emotions being squeezed into a tighter ball where I couldn't access them anymore. With every cold breath that arced through my body, I felt my skin going translucent to the point where the outside world could barely feel my presence. I felt that deep need to disappear, to fade into the background and never be spotted by human eyes again.

This life was punishment for having allowed myself to be spotted.

And now I was caught in despair's black embrace.


	4. Drowning

**3****rd**** Person P.O.V.**

No one made it past the threshold of the gym door to pursue Kuroko.

Kagami had made a move of course, watching his blue-haired shadow all but bolt from the room, but it was only a fraction of a second later that Riko put her arm out and blocked the exit. The red-haired ace of Seirin had immediately responded in anger at her actions, demanding she move so that he could 'sort out his partner'. He hadn't understood anything of what had just come to pass, only that the glint in the baby-blue irises had been screaming out in hushed pain.

That was all it took to make him worry.

Riko merely clamped her mouth shut and closed the gym door, her eyes sharp and daring Kagami to try and go against her. The basketball player began to kick up a fuss but stopped the second he felt his captain place a hand on his shoulder. Hyuuga silently brought Kagami back over to the others and sent Kiyoshi a nod, silently asking to distract him from the situation. When he was thoroughly seen to, he returned to Riko's side, hand gently coming to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly.

"What happened?" Hyuuga asked in a hushed voice, head lowering to whisper in her ear.

Riko's throat clenched shut for a few moments before she swallowed, forcing herself to overcome it. "Kuroko quit the team," she forced out, her voice hitching as she held up the resignation form the Shadow had given her. "He just… quit."

Hyuuga merely made a sound of distress in the back of his throat before he squeezed her shoulders once more. "Give him some time," was all he said, his words containing everything except for his usual level of confidence. "He's probably just under a lot of stress at the moment. He just needs some time."

Riko could only nod back uncertainly, her eyes burning against her will.

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

"You've all gotten pretty slack, haven't you?"

My legs were shaking, my insides feeling as if they were on fire as I buckled forward and attempted to regain my breath. My lungs were wheezing and I couldn't halt breathing long enough to get rid of the building saliva in my mouth. Instead, the hot, moist carbon dioxide merely poured straight from my cracked and bleeding lips, forcing my gaze to distort dizzily. I dully felt a hand on my back but I couldn't respond in any way, shape or form.

I felt like I was dying.

"What kind of training were you doing at your last school, Tetsuya?"

I could hear Akashi's voice over my heavy panting and yet I couldn't even draw enough energy to look at him. I could identify the smirk that filled his voice and still I could do nothing to try and fight against him. I had quit my team, left my new friends, completely betrayed their trust in me and broken my promise.

All because I couldn't go against Akashi.

Ever.

"Stand up, Tetsuya."

I just _couldn't…!_

"Stand up."

"Aka…shi…!" I wheezed, clutching at my stomach before something began to rise up my throat. I made a mad dash towards the nearest trash can, hurling up the contents of my stomach just as I had done in my first training sessions in Teiko. My legs gave out on me and I lay curled around the bin, too scared to move in case I heaved again.

A sigh reached my ears and I feverishly managed to tip my head back, breath still passing my lips quickly. Sweat poured from my brow and I swear my vision was double for a few moments, Akashi's looming form swaying in my gaze. "Your physical fitness is better than it was back in middle school," he murmured, kneeling down before my immobile form. I couldn't develop a single word, even as he raised a hand and captured my chin in a gentle but firm grip. "But, in comparison to the other Miracles, you are severely lacking."

"A-Akashicchi…" Kise stuttered, face just as red and sweat-covered from his own individually assigned training. "K-Kurokocchi isn't… he was never as fast or strong as us though…"

"Indeed but is it wrong of me to want to change that?" the captain retorted immediately, glancing over his shoulder to stare down the blonde. Kise merely averted his gaze in shame, easily submitting despite resulting in the abandonment of me. I couldn't find it in myself to blame him, though.

I would have done the same thing.

"Come on, on your feet," Akashi murmured, his hand gripping my elbow as he pulled me to my feet. I leaned heavily into his hold, my legs still shaking severely and threatening to give out on me any second. "Gotta get you back in the game," the redhead continued, guiding me back over to the court.

"No more, Akashi…" I groaned, fearing the boundary line that was slowly approaching. "Please…"

"You will continue to run," Akashi stated, his words blunt and final. His eyes briefly flickered down to my face, the heterochromatic irises burning deeply into my soul and making my feeble protests wither away. "You will train and you will not stop until I tell you."

His hand on my elbow disappeared and, rather than falling over like I wanted to, I remained swaying. I sucked in a long, painful breath and began to slowly jog back and forth along the boundary line, ignoring the concern the other Miracles were tossing my way. My body had long since burned out and yet I continued that death-like jog, my soul following Akashi's orders against my mind's will.

It had been over 24 hours since I had officially resigned from Seirin. I had received numerous angry texts and voicemails from Kagami as well as a few concerned ones from the first years. Nothing had come in from the second years (thankfully) but I had noticed that around six the previous night, they all stopped. No-one even came up and saw me during school time so I could only assume that Riko or the captain had said something to the others to back off. But, even despite all of that, I could still feet a burning pair of red eyes scowling into the back of my head every second of class.

Kagami.

My light, my _former _light, had opened his mouth to say something as he had passed me today before he seemed to think better of it and walked off in a huff. I would like to say that it had hurt, that I had wanted to chase him down and beg for his help.

But I didn't.

Akashi's orders were absolute.

"Akashi, when does this stop?" Aomine asked, slamming another ball into the basket. Sweat had long since collected on his brow, pouring down his face and soaking his clothes.

"Yeah, Akashicchi, we still have to go home and finish our homework," Kise murmured, glancing outside at the slowly darkening sky. "And… um… Kurokocchi doesn't look all that good…"

"Tetsuya is fine," the redhead replied, crossing his arms as he revised the scene before him. "I have nearly finished calculating each of your individual data and then I will begin plotting out your training menus."

"What?!" Aomine yelped, tripping over his own large feet before he turned to stare in horror at our captain. "You mean this isn't our training?! You were _testing _us?!"

"You have a problem with that, Daiki?" Akashi asked, eyes narrowing just the slightest bit to give the tanned boy a warning. "We are not a typical high school basketball team. We are former champions that all go to different schools. We have a lot more to prove when we enter competitions and I thoroughly expect you all to crush anyone that dares stands in our way."

I felt his eyes begin to burn into my slowly withering form.

"Especially you, Tetsuya," he stated.

I couldn't even formulate a reply, the last of my strength evaporating at his glance. I tripped over my own feet and I collapsed on the gym floor, gasping for breath and feeling as if my insides were on fire. Looking through my wet bangs, I could see Aomine try to take a step forward to help me but Midorima and Kise held him back, their eyes burning in a hushed apology. Footsteps reached my ears and, too tired to turn my head, I could only listen as Akashi leant down to whisper in my ear.

"Forget Seirin already, Tetsuya," he whispered, his voice cold and unapproachable. "You were never theirs to begin with. I just lent you to them for a while. You have always been mine."

And then he straightened and opened up the gym doors, dismissing us with a single call. I felt a hand on my elbow the second he disappeared but I feebly smacked it away, not even caring that there was hurt reflected in Kise's eyes. I pushed myself back onto my feet, whatever emotions had just been running through my mind not even being able to make it to my face.

"Kurokocchi…"

"Why didn't any of you protest?"

My cold, quiet words sliced through the air. I listened to the low breaths the others were emitting, none of them being brave enough to answer me. I glanced back at them, my chest constricting at knowing that no matter how much I hoped and wished, it wouldn't be Seirin behind me anymore. I mean, I _loved _my team from Teiko, they had taught me how to play while Akashi had given me a purpose.

But somewhere along the lines…

They had stopped being my team mates.

"Didn't you guys like your teams?" I asked, my voice hitching as a mental image of my smiling team mates hit me. I tried not to recoil but I couldn't help it, my emotions threatening to overflow and seep to the surface. "Did you… really wanna leave?"

"Of course not, Kurokocchi…" Kise whispered, taking a step forward. "But… oh, man, I don't know how to explain it…"

"We miss… the old days…" Midorima murmured, refusing to meet my eyes as he hurriedly packed his gym bag.

"We all lost to Kuro-chin," Murasakibara said, reaching into his bag for a bag of chips. He held an air of disinterest but I knew he was just as focused on the conversation as I was. "We'd never lost before…"

"It was… a shock," Aomine replied, running a hand through his sweat-drenched hair. "And we missed those times before we had become champions. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't secretly happy that we're all back together."

"Even if I don't want to be here?" I asked, my words hard so as to hide the shock that had shaken me to my core. I had known that they were all undergoing changes but never once had I suspected that they'd wanted to be a team again.

Slowly and tentatively, Kise gave the slightest nod, guilt lining every single contour of his body. He immediately opened his mouth to apologise but I had already turned away with my gym bag.

I'd heard enough.

"I was happy…" I whispered, pausing at the door. I knew my words were too quiet to reach their ears and yet I couldn't help but let them pass my lips.

_And now I'm drowning…_


	5. The Shadow's Greatest Fear

**Wow, hey everyone! So… I ended up writing another chapter I hope it's okay 3 I have received some really sweet reviews so far so please keep sending them in! Always wonderful to read :') (BTW I am still relatively new to so I Don't quite understand some practises yet to do with reviews). A huge thankyou to all of my favers and followers 3 lotsa love 3**

**But quick reply to some of my reviews:**

**Flames04: **Ahahaha yes, they are all massive jerks in the beginning of the series and they totally deserved the slap of defeat that Kuroko delivers them all. However, I honestly believe they make a bit of a turn around. This whole fic won't be with them as the bad guys, I just wanted to express that they all missed each other even if they didn't want to overly admit it. They would have wanted to protest (especially after growing those bonds with their new teams) but because of Akashi's influence they wouldn't have been able to fight against it. To this date, Kuroko is still the only one who had partially defied his old captain.

**SadisticPrincess13: **Awww thankyou so much darling haha yeah I wanna see them all together more too but there aren't a lot of fanfics that aren't AU. And yeah I was briefly considering about the whole honorifics thing but I just couldn't be bothered trying to make sure every character was perfect with their politeness and speech so I just cut it. Sorry if its weird though darling, I'd kinda just end up forgetting and making an ass of myself XD

**And to all of the others: **thankyou all so much for your kind words :') literally made my day 3 This whole fic won't be anti-GoM as I am planning some serious moments of bond reforming between each of the characters and I am also planning a showdown between Seirin and the Miracles so stay tuned for more action! Oh… and the Akashi haters… XD haha um… I kinda like him XD I know he's an ass in this story (and the manga too) but I am determined for him to get better and to (maybe?) meet his match in this story. Thanks again guys 3

**3****rd**** Person P.O.V.**

The Seirin basketball clubroom was deathly silent, the usual happy chatter having completely been eradicated from the scene. Gone were the loud, boisterous teenage boys that had joked around and called out humorous threats at one another. Now they were replaced by the silently contemplating youths that seemed far older than they really were. Tension seeped steadily into the room until the air was saturated in it and it became hard to breathe. And yet all too suddenly…

"Dammit!"

…That strange silence was broken by Kagami.

"Keep your voice down," Hyuuga rumbled, tossing a quick scowl in the first year's direction. "We know you're not happy but we have to give him some space and-"

"We've been giving him space all week!" Kagami yelled, the seething redhead only growing angrier by the second. "It's not helping anything! How do we know that ignoring him isn't just making him feel as if we don't care?!"

"We sent him messages on the first day, didn't we?" Kiyoshi added gently, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Yeah until the captain and Riko told us not to," Kagami shot back, tossing the two a glare.

"If he hadn't replied by that point he wasn't going to at all," Hyuuga murmured, not even bothering to raise his head. "We merely prevented the situation from getting any worse."

"Worse?" Kagami asked, face twitching as he just barely managed to hold himself together. The other players merely let out a silent prayer, knowing that what was about to happen between their ace and their captain was not going to be good. "_Worse?! _You think things can be worse than _this?!_"

"Kagami-"

"Kuroko quit the team!" the redhead yelled, voice completely shutting Kiyoshi down as he began to let out all of his pent-up frustration on his team mates. "How can things possibly get much worse than that?!"

The room went so quiet that the only thing that could be heard was Kagami's heavy breathing. None of the members of Seirin really had an answer that would be satisfying to hear, making them all keep their mouths shut tight. However, a single, quiet voice filtered into the room, the usually quiet boy taking all of the others by surprise.

"He might tell us the reason why he quit the team."

All eyes turned to look at Koganei, the dark-haired lad looking far paler than the others had ever seen him.

"He might… tell us something that we don't want to hear…" he continued, staring down at his clenched hands in his lap. "I mean… why else would he quit? It can't be because of something good… Do we… Do we really want to know why he doesn't want to be around us anymore?"

Silence once again enveloped the group as even the ace of Seirin sank a little into the pool of depression that had completely surrounded his team. Kagami slowly raised his eyes, trailing his gaze across each of their faces before he swallowed heavily, turning away.

"I don't give a fuck about sparing our feelings," I growled quietly under his breath as he made to leave the clubroom. "I just want to know what's been bothering my Shadow so much that he couldn't bring himself to talk to any of us about it."

And, with that, he left to go and track the blue-haired phantom down.

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

The cracks were starting to show.

Back in Teiko, Akashi had somehow convinced me that to completely disappear, I had to keep all of my emotions locked away where the world would never be able to see them. Akashi had pointed out my talent, he had helped me shape my own skills and then he had taught me about just how ruthless human beings could be. With every dispassionate act that he and the other Miracles performed, the easier it became for me to hide my emotions and keep it all bottled inside of me.

But now he had taken it to a whole new level.

I was so exhausted after the past week of training that I had nearly collapsed in class. After a quiet word to my teacher just as the class broke for lunch, I was able to convince him that I wasn't feeling well enough to continue. One trip to the nurse later and I was heading home, the short walk to my single apartment lasting less time than I would have liked.

The second I locked the door safely behind me, my façade slipped.

Tears easily slipped down my face as I took of my shoes, the expression coming as easily as if it always happened when I took off my shoes. My body didn't even show any sign of duress as I walked through my empty house, the darkness that surrounded me forbidding a single shadow to emanate from me.

I was frightened of my shadow.

It was cruelly ironic that the 'Shadow Sixth Player' was actually terrified of his own shadow but, considering everything that had happened to me since gaining that title, I figured that I deserved some slack. Ever since I had gained some kind of recognition in basketball, I had come to resent the fact that I couldn't be 'seen' or 'acknowledged'. I couldn't do what other players could; I couldn't experience what others could. And, perhaps worst of all…

I was forever bound to another's light.

I was scared of that fact. I was scared of what I was and what I was slowly becoming. I had fought against all of that and left Teiko because of it. I knew what had happened to the others and, fearing the shadow that pursued me wherever I went, I tried to escape. I had been clawing myself away from the red glow of Teiko for the past year. I had been running, screaming, begging for someone else to help me and yet my shadow was constantly pulling me back, reminding me of my place beside my Originals' light.

I heard my mobile phone begin to ring and I tempted a glance at the screen, my heart practically stopping when I saw it was Kagami ringing. The tears on my face suddenly felt exceedingly cold and I shakily slid the device away from me, too scared to actually answer. It eventually stopped and I breathed a sigh of relief, tensing up a second later when it started up all over again. I could only stare at it, my bottom lip trembling childishly as I so desperately yearned to answer it and hear my friend's voice.

_You can't have friends…_

Ogiwara's face briefly flashed through my mind and I squeezed my eyes shut, remembering the look of utter despair and anguish that had filled his lifeless face. I could remember him crying, could remember how distraught he had been to have the thing he loved the most turned into something that had killed him from the inside out.

The phone stopped again before it rang once more, the ringtone mocking me in its joviality. Riko and the others had forced me into setting it as the Seirin personal ringtone, telling me that it was a sign of our commitment as friends and team mates. At the time, I had believed her optimistic words; believed that we would all truly be together throughout the remainder of our high school days.

…_You're merely a possession, Tetsuya…_

The phone repeated the pointless cycle once more and I found anger slowly seeping to the surface of my mind, fuelled by the misery that filled my very being. With shaking hands, I picked up the phone, staring down at the screen filled by Kagami's name and number.

…_You're mine…_

"Leave me alone! Just stop it!" I yelled at the ringing device, my voice cracking halfway through. I tossed it away from me, still seeing the mocking glow of the screen reflecting in the darkness of my house.

…_Mine…_

All too suddenly, fear slammed into me as I saw shadows begin to form from the light. My mouth went dry and I curled up against my front door, pressing my palms deeply into my eye sockets just to try and get the horrible image of my darkened form out of my head. I was still crying endlessly, praying to whatever God was out there to make it all just stop. I didn't want to face this anymore. I hated the fear; hated the uncertainty and grief and loneliness that my title as 'Shadow' had subjected me to. I didn't want this life anymore.

Why won't someone save me?

I peeked through the cracks between my fingers once more at my phone, my heart leaping into my throat as a sudden desire to not be alone filled me. Pathetically, I crawled across the floor to my phone and answered it on the last ring, Kagami's heavy breathing filling the receiver.

"_Oi, Kuroko, you there_?"

His warm voice filled the receiver and I felt my throat close up, my irrational fear of my shadow disappearing as I listened silently to his words. I lay down on the wooden floor of my hallway, cradling the phone in my arms as I allowed my tears to slip through my closed eyelids.

"_Kuroko, buddy, come on, if you're there can you please say something?"_

My mouth remained clamped shut, no words being able to make it past the lump in my throat.

"_Kuroko… please…"_

_Help me, Kagami… please…_

No matter how desperately I wished to say the words, Akashi's overbearing influence upon me had whatever desperate please I wanted to speak dying before they made it to my lips. I began crying even harder, my face feeling hot and swollen with every salty tears that slipped down my face.

"_Kuroko… I can hear you breathing so I know you're there… Look… I don't know what happened but… remember that Seirin is your team, okay? We're your friends and we'll always be there for you if you need us…_"

He paused for a moment and I found myself holding my breath, waiting for his next words.

"…_Kuroko… you're my best friend, okay? I'll always be here for you, no matter what it is. You just gotta tell me what punk is picking on you and I'll come running to your rescue._"

I ended the call.

Another word and I knew for certain that my always fractured heart would fall to pieces. I continued to hug my dark phone, my body curling in on myself as I cried helplessly in a mess on the floor.

No-one could help me.


	6. How I Wish We Were

**Hahahaha XD and here we are again! I finished this chapter a few hours ago but I waited for the perfect moment to post this! And I legit just got a review like a few minutes before and I was just like, this is the moment XD hahaha thanks for reading guys 3**

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

"Oi… Tetsu…?"

I refused to raise my head, my eyes firmly trained upon my sneakers as I slowly undid the knot. Training had finished for the day and my body felt as if it had been wrung out so drastically that my insides had turned to mush. Not much had been said between the Miracles in all of that time, each of us solely focused on trying to finish the extensive training menu that Akashi had assigned to each individual. At the moment we were in the change room, a tense silence filling the air now that our red-headed captain had left to go and speak on his phone.

"Um… Tetsu…"

"I do not wish to speak to Aomine," I answered softly, slipping my shoe off so that I could begin to take off my training gear. I turned away, facing my back to my tanned former light as I took off my shirt.

A heavy sigh reached my ears before I suddenly had a hand on my bare shoulder, turning me back around. I started in surprise but found myself staring straight into Aomine's navy blue orbs, his eyes dark with the emotions that swirled within their depths.

"You may say you don't want to talk but you forget just how well I know you," he replied sternly, his voice just bordering on a snap as his usual ill-temperament reared its ugly head. "I was your partner before all of that shit happened back in Teiko. You may walk around here with that bullshit about not feeling anything but I can bloody well tell that you want to talk to someone."

I narrowed my eyes a fraction of a millimetre, the tiny change in expression speaking more volumes than raising my voice ever could. I leaned forward slightly, my voice lowering as I stared emotionless straight into the depths of his eyes. "You know me?" I asked simply, the coldness of my words even making me want to shudder. "If you knew me like you claimed you did, none of us would be in this mess to begin with. I wouldn't have felt the need to quit Teiko because you wouldn't have been so cruel. I wouldn't have gone to Seirin because I wouldn't have been trying and take you all down. And then, finally, I wouldn't feel as if my chest had been ripped open because I wouldn't have just lost the team that meant the _entire world to me!_"

The others paused in what they were doing, multi-coloured eyes slowly drifting over to stare at Aomine and I. Kise looked absolutely guilt-stricken, Midorima just looked depressed and Murasakibara had dark smudges beneath his eyes. Aomine, to top it all off, had clenched his jaw, breathing deeply through his nose as his body tensed up. His dark blue eyes continued to stare deeply into mine before he suddenly turned away, our brief moment of connection breaking off before it could fully settle in.

"You know…" he said, his voice low and quiet. "You're not the only one… that misses their team."

And just like that, I felt all of the tension in my body just drain away.

My mouth went bone dry as I stared at Aomine's back, the muscles lining his shoulder looking taut and painful. His hands were clenched by his sides and, if I looked closely enough, I could see that there was just the faintest of a tremble running through them. I began to feel my anger towards him fade away as I stepped forward, my hand rising to touch his shoulder. "Aomine…" I breathed, my throat constricting at seeing his grief so easily displayed.

"Dude, I'm not telling you this so I can get your pity," he replied quickly, his voice strained as he turned once more to meet my eyes. "I'm telling you this because I want you to understand that we are _all _in the same boat."

"All?" I repeated, my eyes distractedly trailing over the three other faces in the room. Almost at once, my breath caught in my throat as I saw the emotions that had been as clear as day but had never really registered in my mind until this very moment.

Everyone was grieving.

"But… you guys said…"

"That we wanted to be a team?" Kise interrupted, his golden orbs filling with a soulful ache that made my chest hurt. "Of course we do, Kurokocchi! But that doesn't mean we want to lose _our _teams to accomplish it!"

"I hadn't yet finished training Takao to drive me around faster on that bike of his," Midorima murmured, a sad smile tilting up the edges of his mouth.

"Muro-chin always bought me snacks," Murasakibara said, jutting out his bottom lip as he sank onto one of the benches. "No-one buys snacks for me anymore now."

"Some days… all we ever want to do is just go back to those easier days at Teiko," Aomine said, his voice hard as he directed my attention back to him. "Some days, all we ever want to do is just be a team again but… Tetsu…"

"We all… have teams already…" I finished, slowly sinking down onto a nearby bench. I stared down at the floor in shock, for some reason their words actually surprising me more than they really should have.

"Things won't be like this forever," Aomine murmured, his mouth tilting up a fraction at the edge. He lowered his hand onto my head, giving my hair a quick, playful ruffle. "Just keep your spirits up until Akashi gets bored and lets us all go. He's only doing this to teach us a lesson and to remind us who our 'captain' is."

"Careful or else you'll be impaled by a pair of scissors," Kise chuckled, buttoning up his shirt and tossing his bag over his shoulder. Laughing, the rest of us followed suit and made to leave the gym, our problems temporarily forgotten as we fell back into our old habits before the problems at Teiko had forced us apart.

It was surprisingly easy to pretend that nothing was wrong. It was so simple to smile and joke around with the others as if Teiko and Seirin and the Winter Cup never happened. As far as we were concerned, we were all still at the top of the world and there was not a single thing that could bring us down.

Except for reality.

The second we turned around a bend in the street, I felt every nerve in my body jolt in alarm as my eyes caught onto a familiar group of people. At my sudden stop, the other members of the Generation of Miracles paused as well, questions clear in their coloured irises. They followed the direction of my gaze towards the local Maji Burger restaurant where a group of people were standing around the entrance, laughing and talking amongst themselves.

"Uh oh…" Kise hissed under his breath, his hand rising to grip my shoulder as if he sensed I might make a run for it. "Kagamicchi and Seirin."

"I'm off," I said, trying to turn and escape. It was to no avail as Kise had a fairly good grip on me, forcing me to continue to look at my old team that had yet to notice-

"Hey… isn't that Kuroko?"

The second the words left Koganei's mouth, I felt alarm slash through my body. I remained frozen in my place as each member of Seirin turned in surprise, their eyes widening to the size of saucers at seeing me staring right back at them. I watched as Kagami took a step forward, his mouth a second from breaking into a smile before he suddenly realised who I was surrounded by.

And then I watched the hope die in his eyes.

"Kagami!" I called in alarm as he began to turn away, shoving his hands into his pockets. I attempted to cross the street but Kise's previously supportive hand held me still, a warning to remain put echoing in his eyes. "Kise, let me go!" I called, my heart hammering in my chest.

"You can't," he murmured, pulling me back a little.

"But, Kagami-"

"If Akashi finds out, he'll punish you and them," Midorima stated, his hand coming to rest on my other shoulder.

"Don't do it," Aomine murmured, running his hands through my teal locks.

"Aka-chin won't forgive you."

I could only watch silently as the red-headed ace of Seirin all but snuffed me and ordered the others to do the same. I watched in supressed grief as they each tossed me one last sad glance before turning away, acting as if I was the person that had killed their former Shadow.

Then they were gone.

And I had never felt so alone.

"Oh… God…" I whispered, suddenly feeling as if my legs were about ready to give out on me. The hands on my shoulders were now my allies as they grabbed onto me in alarm, now being the only thing to keep me standing up.

"Oi, Tetsu! You alright?!"

"Kurokocchi!"

A pair of arms wrapped around me and my throat closed up, tears springing to my eyes against my will. I buried my face into Aomine's chest to hide the pathetic expression on my face, hating this dreaded weakness of mine.

"Tetsu…?" Aomine asked in genuine surprise. If he felt the tears that soaked through his shirt, he didn't say anything about it and instead chose to hug me even tighter. I felt hands on my back and I knew for certain it was the others trying to show that they were there for me, their silent fashion really reflecting us as a group.

We fought and we argued.

But we were still there for one another.

**3****rd**** Person P.O.V.**

Unbeknownst to both Seirin and the group of multi-coloured adolescents, Akashi was leisurely observing the spectacle with his eyes that saw _everything. _He couldn't particularly say that he liked what he saw, especially when his dearest Tetsuya began to break down and cry into Daiki's jacket, but he rather liked the idea that came to him afterwards. For the last month, he'd had the vision of his perfect team comprised of the people that had meant the most to him during his earlier years. Despite having won against Tetsuya, his ideals and beliefs had been shaken greatly by those bright blue eyes that had refused to buckle under his pressure.

But, since he never lost, he had refused to be swayed by the new voices in his head.

Instead his ideals had become even more twisted, forcing him to go against the early Teiko's Akashi and force his old team back together. He waited until the group coaxed his Shadow to continue walking before he pulled out his phone, dialling one of the hundreds of phone numbers he had memorised by heart. He knew quite a few things about the structure of Seirin's basketball club, one of which was the fact that despite Riko Aida being in charge, they still had a teacher figurehead that posed as their 'coach'. He had the overall say when it came to things and Akashi knew it would be easy to talk him into something that would be 'best' for his team.

What else would be better for Seirin's publicity then to take on the Generation of Miracles?


	7. Hell

**Author's note: Hey everyone! It's been a couple days and I am so sorry I didn't update! This chapter literally gave me hell -.- And so I have named this chapter as such. I know, it's not all that great but the next one will be better, I promise! Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews! :') you made me so happy! Though… hahaha XD I think Akashi in this is pissing everyone off.**

**Disclaimer: I should do this more often but I own nothing except the plot of this story! Else Kuroko would probably be constantly sexually harassed by all of the other characters! XD**

**3****rd**** Person P.O.V.**

_Smack!_

"Ow!" Kagami yelped, rubbing at the back of his head after it had been assaulted by an unseen attacker. "What the hell was that for, you little-"

_Smack!_

"Why did you hit me again?!"

Seirin's coach, the forever observant and easy-to-piss-off Riko Aida, merely rubbed at her stinging hand and glared at the red-head she had just smacked across the back of the head. "Because you're getting angry!" Riko snapped back, placing her hands upon her hips. "When you get angry, you don't listen to instructions! Knock the attitude off and get back to warming up with a clear head!"

"As if hitting me is going to help," Kagami grumbled under his breath before re-joining the start-up line with his team mates.

It was still fairly early in the morning and the boys of Seirin were preparing for a practise match that the school had organised for them. Exactly who it was, they were unaware, but the idea of taking out their long-suffering frustration on someone else was too tempting for them to really argue about specifics. They continued to stretch, jog, dribble and shoot hoops whilst they waited for their umpires and their opponent to arrive.

It had been a couple weeks since the incident at Maji Burger and, in that time, the members of Seirin had been growing more and more irritable as the days passed. Training seemed to run later as the young adolescents wanted nothing more than to train until their bodies were either too sore or exhausted to even think about their blue-haired companion. The situation surrounding them was still too confusing for them to figure out as of yet and, due to their inability to locate Kuroko in the last fortnight, they had been forced to let it go.

However, despite all of this, one thought managed to continuously assault Kagami's mind.

The space beside him was empty.

_Kuroko's space…_

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

"This is pointless."

I glared at the back of Akashi fiery-red skull, anger slowly simmering in the pit of my stomach. Despite my face remaining blank, I was fully aware of the fact that Akashi knew exactly how I felt but had purposely refrained from commenting.

"It's not pointless," he replied without an ounce of emotion in his even voice. "A practise match is the perfect way to draw attention to our debut as a newly reformed basketball team." He turned his head slightly, a smirk placing across his pale face that made his one golden eye seem twice as menacing. "Crush one team and the rest are certain to follow."

I felt a lump form in my throat at his words but I quickly shook it off, knowing that this wasn't the time to lose it again.

Akashi had been his usual vague self about the team we were supposed to be versing. He had slyly avoided any of my sharp questions with falsely reassuring words that tried and failed to set my mind at ease. The entire week I had been on edge; barely getting any sleep and flat-out refusing to leave my house unless I had practise. I could tell that the others were beginning to get worried but I couldn't really say that I cared all that much.

I just couldn't get the image of Kagami's back out of my mind.

His furrowed brows, his clenched jaw; the angry and grievous expression on his face had burnt itself into my mind and was on the verge of driving me insane. I could literally feel the betrayal that had been racing through him at the sight of me smiling around with my old team mates. I wanted to call out to him, to tell him the truth, but Akashi's influence at the back of my skull had been too heavy and had forced me to give up something else that'd meant the world to me.

"Nearly there," Akashi hummed, something about his words making a spark of restlessness form in my stomach.

I actually began to notice our familiar surroundings, alarm bells beginning to sound off in my head. My eyes scanned the world around me and, just as an _extremely _familiar building came into view, I felt my heart stop.

"No…" I whispered, stopping dead in my tracks as I stared in horror at the gymnasium. "…No… this… this can't be…" I shook my head, eyes wide as I stared at Akashi's slowly forming smile. My chest constricted and I back-pedalled a step, my knees once again going shaky. "You can't be serious!"

Seirin Academy.

"Let's have a good match, boys," Akashi chuckled, continuing his leisurely pace and leaving our still-frozen forms behind. The others recovered much faster than me and, despite feeling the waves of sympathy they were sending me, I could feel their desperate need to get me moving again so that our captain didn't end up punishing them. I dully noticed hands coaxing me into movement but the last of our journey didn't even imprint upon my memories, the shock of our opposing team almost completely short-circuiting my brain.

Seirin.

It was Seirin.

**3****rd**** Person P.O.V.**

The second the doors of the gymnasium slammed open, Seirin's basketball stopped what they were doing to glance at their opponent. The first thing that registered in their minds was a shock of red hair and two mismatched eyes that sent a chill down their spine. Almost immediately came a sense of alarm when they realised that their last opponent of the Winter Cup was who they were about to be paired against.

Akashi Seijuro of Rakuzan Academy.

However, the second Akashi stepped out of the way, confusion slowly wormed its way into Seirin's minds. Behind him was a relatively tall and tanned boy with dark blue hair and slouched shoulders. A shocked shudder traversed Kagami's spine as he watched Aomine Daiki of Touhou walk in with hunched shoulders as if he really wasn't comfortable under the scrutiny of so many eyes.

Alarm slowly began to trickle into their minds as Kise Ryouta of Kaijou and Midorima Shintarou of Shutoku walked in and refused to meet any of the eyes around them. Lastly came a monster of a teenager with soft lavender hair and a gaze that seemed to stare past all of them. Hyuuga had to swallow heavily as he remembered the hopelessness cast upon him by Murasakibara Atsushi of Yosen.

The Generation of Miracles.

Balls dropped from slack fingers as their previous owners could do nothing but stare in confusion and building horror at the monsters that stood before them. When they had woken up this morning, not one of them could say that they had expected anything of this calibre in a practise match and it sent bursts of fear throughout majority of the team.

Kagami, however, could only grin like a school boy.

The tall redhead was a typical sportsman; blind to anything other than the challenge and adrenaline before him. It wasn't in his nature to realise that perhaps another bluenette would be with them; all he cared about was the fact that his wish would finally come true.

That he would crush the Generation untouched by normal men.

"Good evening," Akashi called monotonously, his gaze level as he observed his surroundings with his sharp sight.

Riko was the first to snap out of her daze. "Um… G-Good evening," she mumbled back, her eyes quickly darting over the Miracles who were, at the moment, placing their bags down on the opposing bleachers. "What… what's going on?"

Akashi merely raised a brow, the simple action somehow drawing a flush to the surface of Seirin's coach's face. "I believe we are having a practise match," he replied dryly, gracefully placing his bag down beside the others. "Why? Would you prefer a tea party or something of the sort instead?"

"Of course not," Riko snapped, recoiling back a fraction seconds later. She sucked in a calming breath, trying to pull her immediate anger back from the surface lest she did something she would later regret. "I mean why are you all here together?"

"I thought that was obvious," he hummed, his head turning back as if he had just noticed something. A smile lightly tugged on his lips and he shot Aomine a pointed look, something conveying silently between the two.

"Akashi…" Aomine murmured, something foreign entering the tanned giant's eyes. It was a twist between grief and pain, as if he had been asked to put a gun to someone's head and pull the trigger.

Little did they know he pretty much was.

"He's fallen behind. Just go and escort him inside."

Confusion slowly erupted between the silent members of Seirin as they looked between themselves in unease. Aomine eventually forced his muscles to move and he dragged his heels to the gym door once more, disappearing outside for a fraction of a second. Even Kagami found himself holding his breath, his heart speeding up for some stupid reason that didn't even make sense to him.

The gym door opened once more and Aomine walked back in, a tiny body beside him. His hand was on a pale, jumper-covered shoulder as the temperature in the room suddenly seemed to drop well below zero. The body beside him had its bag clenched up to its face, forbidding anyone around them from seeing who it was. Akashi shot Aomine one last look and, with a heavy heart and a face that grimaced in silent agony, he laid his hand on the bag to push it out of the way.

And two blank blue eyes stared back at Seirin.

Kuroko mouth was bone dry, his eyes wide open and not a single expression being able to be discerned from his pale features. He stared out at Seirin and Seirin could only stare back, not quite registering what was going on.

And then, Kuroko knew for certain that he was in hell.

"…Kuroko…?"


	8. The Implosion

***A.N.***

**Yo! Hey everyone **** Finally got down to writing a chapter! Hope it's okay! Thank you to everyone who took the time to write a review :') loved them and couldn't stop laughing at how much hate Akashi got XD**

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

_What…_

_What did I do to deserve this?_

It was one of those moments when I once again had to reflect on what I must have done in a previous lifetime to find myself stuck in this infinitely endless ball of sorrow. I couldn't even move, couldn't even formulate a single thought aside from the unending questions that begged for answers about my scarred existence in this world.

_Why was I here?_

I stared blankly into the eyes of the Seirin Basketball Team, seeing the pain and anguish that slowly built up inside of them before watching their spirits break right before me.

_When had things gotten this bad?_

A tremor ran through my body and I numbly felt a hand on my shoulder, pulling me over towards the set of benches designated for the Miracles. My eyes never once left the frozen team opposite us, my body so numb I couldn't even feel the beating of my heart.

_Where was this all going?_

Umpires and utility people began to set up the court, slowly walking past Seirin to usher them out of their trance back towards their own benches. I felt burning glances being tossed in my direction every few seconds, making hot chills race up my spine in uncomfortable waves.

_Who was I?_

The questions, though ridiculously farfetched and strange, made complete and utter sense in my mind. It was as if the cracks in my head that I had received from Teiko were suddenly growing to ridiculously dangerous sizes. I didn't move aside from the slightest twitch in my right hand, the nails on my left hand slicing into the exposed skin of my knees.

"Tetsu?"

Aomine grabbed my elbow, pulling me onto my feet and dragging me off to the change rooms. In his hands was the light blue jersey that Akashi had picked out for our team, the number 6 emblazoned upon the back to show it was mine.

"Come on, Tetsu," he whispered, his dark blue eyes meeting mine. "You have to get changed."

I numbly raised my arms, the awkwardness of him pulling my shirt off for me not even registering in my head. At one point in our lives, we had been best friends. I had been his shadow and he had been my light; we had both been created to illuminate one another in the light of day. There was honestly very little that could really prove to be awkward between us even after everything that had happened.

"Aomine…" I whispered, my voice even barely being able to be heard. "I don't want to do this…"

"I know," was all he answered, quickly tugging my jersey on over my head. His eyes met mine briefly before they flashed over to meet the now entering Miracles', something obviously passing between them before a familiar redhead followed.

"I don't suppose I need to tell you all the punishment if you do not win by a sizeable amount," Akashi murmured, his body turned away as he leisurely changed into his uniform. The other occupants in the room remained silent, no answer really being needed since it was Akashi who had said the words. "Oh, and Kuroko…" he said, head tilting in my direction so that I could stare straight into those heterochromatic orbs. "I believe it was you who said a couple years ago that it would be disrespectful if we do not play to the best of our abilities. I doubt Seirin would even look at you again with anything other than disgust and repulsion if you dared to rub salt in their wounds by going easy on them."

The words stung but I kept my reaction below the surface, refusing to show him any more of my weaknesses after this latest show of cruelty. Aomine got changed as quickly as he could so that he could help escort me back onto the court, taking me over to our side so that he could help me to stretch.

"I don't want to do this, Aomine…" I said again, barely even noticing when he began to help me stretch out my shoulders and legs.

"I know."

We kept going on like that for a while, me telling him that I didn't want to play while he just responded with a vague acknowledgement. It was honestly the only thing he could do to reassure me, even if it meant nothing at all except that he was willing to listen to my unease.

"Line-up," Akashi called, walking past us leisurely as he made to stand in the centre of the court. Seirin seemed to be doing the same, paler-than-usual faces still tossing me strange looks. Aomine tugged on my arm and I numbly followed behind him, taking my place beside him at the end of the line.

Directly opposite Kagami.

My mouth bone dry as I stared straight into his furious red eyes, my body feeling as if it were shrinking under his harsh scrutiny. We merely watched one another in silence as the referee introduced both sides, neither of us saying a single thing even when it was time to wish each other a good game.

With a barely controlled hand, I reached out to shake his, only feeling my heart throb in agony as he merely ignored me and went on to shake the others' hands. A shake ran through my spine before I quickly hurried back over to our benches, feeling as if I might pass out if I dared to partake in this game.

"Just breathe," Aomine murmured, placing his hand on my shoulder and whispering into my ear. "Deep breath, come on, Tetsu."

I tried to do as he said but found my body fighting against me, my breath getting stuck halfway into my lungs. I choked and tried to remember how to breathe but found my head becoming faint. I clutched onto Aomine's shirt, feeling the shock that ran through him at my sudden actions.

"Hey, Tetsu!" he exclaimed, his voice just being low enough to not draw attention from Seirin. "Stop! Just breathe! Forget about the game for two seconds and just calm down!"

I tried to do as he said but I was inconsolable at that moment, tears threatening to spill any second. My grip on Aomine's shirt intensified and he quickly pulled me behind the bleachers, out of the sight of the opposing team.

"I can't do it!" I choked, breath coming out in ragged sobs as a few tears managed to streak down my face. "I can't! Oh God! Aomine! Please don't make me-"

_Slap!_

My head twisted around on my neck as far as it was able to, my cheek burning as Aomine's hand left my skin. My bod locked up in shock for a few seconds and my mind's frantic whirl paused, everything concentrating on the pain radiating across my face.

And then a shuddered breath left me.

"You'll get through this," Aomine murmured, placing his hands on my shoulders and forcing me to stare into his dark blue eyes. "You'll follow Akashi's command without a single show of defiance. He'll get bored with you eventually and then you'll be free to come back to Seirin. Just forget about Kagami and the others for now. It'll be easier on you."

The two of us stayed like that for a few seconds longer before I closed my eyes. My face screwed up and a single sob managed to escape before I tightly locked my lips together. My eyes squeezed shut tightly to the point that no tears would be able to come out anymore. One of my hands rose to wipe the remnants of the tears that had fallen less than a minute before, completely eradicating any show of the pathetic emotion.

_I doubt Seirin would even look at you again with anything other than disgust and repulsion if you dared to rub salt in their wounds by going easy on them…_

When I reopened my eyes, I knew for certain that no emotion was able to seep to the surface.

Aomine stared down at me, concern radiating within his orbs but he chose not to say anything. He merely followed me out silently onto the court, tossing me one last glance before Akashi ordered him to partake in the tip-off with Kiyoshi. The court was deadly silent as each time eyed the other off, waiting for the referee to throw the ball and begin the game.

The whistle blew.

Aomine and Kiyoshi jumped.

And something inside of me shed one final tear at it all.

For the reality was that I had already died.

**A.N.- Up next is the big game **** Can't wait!**


	9. Kuroko Tetsuya is Dead

**Daybreak: Hey everyone! Wow nearly up to 100 follows! Soooo happy XD thank you to all of my supportive readers who I love with all of my heart 3 Has been so much fun writing this! Can't wait for the next chapter now!**

**Anyway, replies:**

**NewMoon26**: Yeah, I'm planning on things getting all hashed up later on and things will work out eventually Things will get worse before they get better!

**Flames04**: Hey hun Yeah I probably won't extensively show their reactions. Maybe a few characters in passing like Himuro and Takao but not whole teams cause it kinda gets a little boring to drag stuff like that out. But aww you're such a sweetheart! Thank you so much!

**Cathtaku**: I just… dude I can't even say how much your comment made me smile XD I loved it! Thank you so much! You are such a sweetheart! I found I just couldn't NOT reply XD thank you xx

**EndlessZero112**: It's one of my guilty pleasures too ;) and naw thank you so much! I was worried they were too OOC (I've never done a KnB fanfic before XD) but your comment made me feel a lot better! Thank you!

**3****rd ****Person P.O.V.**

Without even breaking a sweat, Aomine claimed the ball for the Miracles.

The former ace of Touhou moved so quickly that Kiyoshi was temporarily shocked into inactivity, giving the opposing side an easy head start that they by all rights shouldn't have received. Flashing through his mind was a reminder of the crushing pressure of hopelessness he had received the last time he had taken on the Miracles. By the time he had finally snapped out of it, the next time he looked at the scoreboard, they were losing 2-0.

The others were in no better shape; even Kagami had stared in wonder as the Miracles easily allowed Aomine to move and score the point by himself. The redhead had only just managed to grab the rebound as his heart began to thrum in his chest in excitement.

This was his dream right here.

To take down the Generation of Miracles.

With a grin, Kagami raced down the court, letting out a battle cry that would have put the Vikings themselves to shame. The other members of Seirin snapped out of their dazes immediately, shouting out to each other and listening as the benched players yelled out encouragement. Kagami had never felt more empowered as he made it past the defence line to the area just beneath the goal, about to perform a slam dunk.

When he was suddenly overcome by an unbearable amount of pressure.

The ball was stolen from his slack fingers by a blank-faced, purple-haired giant who merely tossed it over to his green-haired team mate. Within a fraction of a second, the ball was flying through the air and slashing through the hoop, not even disturbing the outer ring due to how perfect it was.

And the entire court went deathly silent in shock.

A crushing sense of pressure suddenly fell upon the shoulders of every player in Seirin, rendering them almost completely useless. They could do nothing but stare slack-jawed at the five monsters before them, unable to slow down their heart beats at just how cold and indifferent the lot of them seemed towards the whole experience.

"This is great!" Kagami suddenly called, drawing the attention of the frozen Seirin and bored Miracles alike. "We haven't had a decent opponent in ages! This is gonna be fun!"

Izuki was the first to recover from his shock.

"Hah! You sound just like Kiyoshi!" the raven haired boy laughed hysterically, slapping the larger player in question so hard that his hand hurt.

"Why does everyone else steal my lines?!" Kiyoshi pouted, pursing his lips in annoyance as he crossed his arms. "It's not fair! I want to say cool stuff in a game too!"

"We're all sick of that line though…" Koganei complained, jabbing the silent Mitobe beside him in the ribs. "Isn't that right, Mitobe? Mitobe says he agrees with me."

"How do you even know what he's saying?!"

"Because Mitobe always agrees with me!"

"Oi! Focus on the game, you lot!" Riko called out, having to cover her mouth a second later to hide her smile. She was secretly relieved about Kagami's ability to be unfazed by the steal he had just been subjected to, giving him the perfect chance to snap the others back into their normal mindset.

"Yes, Miss Slave Driver!" Hyuuga called back, giving her a quick wave before he set his attention back onto the game. Riko's eyebrow twitched and she made a quick note on her clipboard.

"_Triple Hyuuga's training menu for the next month._"

Smirking, she returned her attention to the game at hand, trying to figure out what the heck was going on. The five main members of the Miracles were currently on the court, not even breaking a sweat as they went against her own team. She watched their movements and had to hand it to them; their stats were completely off of her mental scale. She shook her head and started in surprise, focusing on the bluenette on the bench opposite her's.

Kuroko.

No matter what, she couldn't come up for an excuse for why Kuroko had left Seirin to be with the Miracles other than the fact that he no longer needed her team. It was a heartbreaking thought and she forced her attention away from him spitefully, hating just how disinterested he seemed in the game in general.

He obviously didn't care about them so why should she worry for him?

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

_I wish I was dead._

The thought came as a shock to me but, instead of reacting like I might have otherwise done, I stayed stone still and continued to stare blankly at the game. It felt like I had receded into the deepest parts of my mind and I was now being controlled by someone else entirely.

And that person just didn't care about life anymore.

_I want to break everything in my path._

I watched with dead eyes as the first quarter ended quickly and the exhausted members of Seirin could do nothing but stare at the scoreboard in horror. They were losing 30-0 and, rather than feeling my heart breaking at the sight, I could only sit there and embrace it all. I felt their horror; felt their souls being pushed into a frightened corner and I did not react in the slightest.

_Why couldn't they see how much I was hurting?_

The barely-tired Miracles slowly made their way back over to the bench and took long swigs of their water, barely saying a word between them all. I felt eyes upon me but I ignored them, still staring straight at the team that had done nothing but ignore me or scowl at me.

Did they truly not care for me?

I felt another small part inside of me die at the realisation and I dug my nails into my knees, locking my jaw so tightly that it hurt. Akashi came to stand beside me and stared down at my stony form, a small smile tugging on his lips as he offered me a hand.

"You look like you're finally ready to play," he murmured, heterochromatic eyes filled with fiery amusement. "Ready to make some grown boys cry?"

In another time and place, I wouldn't have even acknowledged that he had said the words. I would have been angry and upset that he would have even suggested such a thing and I would have gotten into an argument with him. But this time was different; this had been the second time that my team had turned their backs on me.

The first had been at Teiko.

And now Seirin had done the same.

With the eyes of the other confused Miracles burning into my skull, I raised my hand, grasping his so tightly that I knew it would hurt. His smirk only grew wider at the action and pulled me to my feet, our eyes speaking words that neither of us could really voice aloud.

"I'm sick of being the good guy," I whispered, stepping past the redhead as the referee blew his whistle. I barely heard Akashi telling Kise he was benched before I was taking my place on the court, completely startling the blonde's previous mark.

Kiyoshi.

"Kuroko…" he whispered in surprise, eyes widening as I came to stand beside him. He opened his mouth before he caught himself, obviously remembering something that had been told to him during the two minute break. So instead he merely forced a smile and patted my back. "Let's do our best, okay?"

I didn't answer and instead kept my attention focused on the court before me. Izuki had the ball at the base line and I sucked in a breath, watching his line of sight as it completely gave away where he was going to pass.

And then I became nothing but shadows.

The second the ball left Izuki's hands, it was mine. I was a centimetre from him and the ball was delivered straight into my waiting hands before I threw it away, straight into Aomine's possession.

It didn't even take two seconds for him to dunk it.

Everything had transpired in the time it might have taken me to suck in a breath. The people on the court were frozen and I remained where I was, eyes staring straight into Izuki's dark orbs that were wide with shock.

"K-K-Kuroko…" he whispered, the shock suddenly being replaced with hurt and betrayal.

I didn't even flinch.

I no longer _cared!_

The ball came into play once more and I was gone again, darting back and forth along the court so as to steal the ball whenever it came into Seirin's possession. My body just did it without me even having to think it through, the actions coming way too naturally for my own good. Every second was like a torturous millennium, lasting so long that points were scored with some not being counted.

I saw Seirin's hope slowly die.

I watched with blank eyes as a familiar redhead raced down the court towards me, eyes angry and filled with determination. It felt rather odd and disturbing to be facing Kagami in this way rather than standing beside him. All I could do was stay still as he raced towards me, moving so fast that the eyes of the spectators could barely keep up with him.

I made a choice in that moment.

So, the second that Kagami made to drive past me, I felt my eyes shift and I began to see everything. The technique that had awakened the day we had gone up against Rakuzan at the Winter Cup, the very thing I had gained for the wellbeing of _Seirin, _suddenly shone through above all else.

My Emperor Eye.

Suddenly the ball was in my possession and I was throwing it away to a waiting Aomine, my gaze not even locking onto the tanned player as he made another score. Instead, I stared at the dead-still, wide-eyed red head that I had just stolen the ball from, seeing the stunned shock that radiated through him.

"K-Kuroko…" he murmured, head turning slightly to stare straight at me. I felt my insides twist at the expression that filled his eyes; layers upon layers of hurt and pain and grief that just screamed condemnation at me. "How… how could you?"

And the last of the old Kuroko died inside of me.

I felt my face scrunch up into a sneer as I scowled back at him, all but hammering in the final nail in Kuroko Tetsuya's coffin.

"No, Kagami… how could you?"


	10. Break the Numbness

**3****rd**** Person P.O.V.**

"Hey… you okay?"

The game's ending, despite being an almost certain win for the Generation of Miracles, didn't quite end in the way that they had all originally believed. Halfway through the third quarter, just after Midorima had shot the basket that had made the score board read 100-0, one of the referees had blown his whistle and declared that the game was finished. Perplexed, the Miracles had stared in silence at the coach of Seirin who looked on the edge of tears as she whispered something to one of the players beside her. That player then proceeded to step in front of her slowly shaking form and called for the rest of Seirin to return to their side of the court.

The game had ended with a forfeit.

Kuroko could only stare mutely at the shambles that had once been his team, not an ounce of emotion evening being able to be glimpsed from the outside of his unsympathetic shell. The other Miracles noticed a slight change in their blue-haired shadow but none chose to comment on it, simply assuming it was due to the grief of hurting his beloved ex-team.

Only Akashi knew better.

Containing his tony smirk, the redhead lead his newly reformed team out of Seirin's gym back towards their own personal training grounds located on the Akashi Estate. None of them spoke, each of them all caught up in their own strange thought processes. Kise, Midorima, Murasakibara and Aomine each had very similar things racing through their minds however.

Guilt.

Back in Teiko's glory days, such a thing would have never been in their skulls, especially straight after such a crushing victory. However, their former selves had already ceased to exist after a certain blue-haired shadow had come in and knocked them all down a peg. They had all come to respect the players of Seirin in their own twisted ways, even if they wouldn't admit it, and so seeing their rivals in such a state was truly distressing for them.

They couldn't begin to imagine how Kuroko was handling it.

"I'm fine," Kuroko murmured, not even pausing to think after Kise had posed the question.

"Tetsu, you don't look fine," Aomine hummed, eyeing off his Shadow with concern etched in his dark irises.

"And what does fine look like, Aomine?" Kuroko snipped back, his tone low and his eyes looking oddly dangerous. The way he looked, the way he held himself and the way he stared down at Aomine oddly reminded the Generation of Miracles of an entirely different person.

Akashi Seijuro.

The thought was both terrifying and horrific, startling the others into inactivity whilst the teal irises ran over them in warning. Once Kuroko had realised that his point had been made, he nodded his head and turned away once more, allowing the other four to suck in shaky breaths.

It was just like Akashi in middle school.

The person looking at them through those eyes wasn't Kuroko.

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

_So this is what it feels like to be dead…_

The thought was oddly calming as I lay on the floor in my living room. The house was empty, it always was, and now every day the rooms remained pitch black. At one point in my life it would have frightened me but I was so numb to it that fear didn't even form in my skull. I was a Shadow; it was foolish to say that I was afraid of something that I myself was.

The clouds of delusion no longer rested upon me.

I was no longer a fool.

The world that I was in was full of unfairness and hatred and I had struggled against it all for too long. The pain of those long battles had drawn out the suffering within me and increased it more and more until my insides could no longer recognise my emotions. I was dead on the inside and my nerves could no longer pick up on the feelings and sensations that came with human interactions.

I didn't want to be _touched._

A phantom could not be touched, nor did he want to ever be touched by something that might otherwise bring false affection. The longer the thoughts raged around in my head, the worse the numbness became until I could barely get any feeling to travel up my nerves to my brain.

I sat up.

A rather odd idea came to my mind and I drunkenly got to my feet, my whole body swaying as I stumbled into my small kitchen. My fingers fumbled tiredly against the handle of one of my draws as I opened it, my other hand enclosing around the handle of the sharpest knife I possessed. At any other point in time, I would have acted with more reason. I would have had more than enough intelligence to know that this was a stupid endeavour and that Kagami or one of the other players in Seirin would beat the shit out of me if they found out.

But they weren't with me anymore.

I went over to the sink, stripping off the jacket I had arrived home in. I held my pale arm over the rim of the sink and leaned heavily against the bench, the sensation of the cold seeping through the clothes to my stomach no longer being able to register in my body. I held the blade against the skin of my arm, head tilting slightly to the side when I realised that I couldn't even feel the metal.

I lightly dragged it across the skin.

And then I could _feel._

A long gasp tore from my throat as pain registered in my mind followed by warmth and then blissful agony. Heat raced up my veins and flooded my heart and then completely ensued me, making a groan slip from my lips. The feeling continued for a few seconds before it faded, making full-blown panic flash through my head. Wanting to regain that warmth, I slashed my wrist a few more times, registering nothing besides the glorious ability to _feel _something.

By the time I regained my senses, the sink was drenched in blood.

My knife hand spasmed drastically against my will and I dropped the bloody blade, watching as it splashed in the sink and became completely drenched in my life-blood. My pale, damaged wrist was covered in marred X's that wept blood and made my skin even more pale. My vision swam and I panicked for a moment, backing away from the crimson sink.

My back hit the wall and, before I even realised I was trailing blood everywhere, I stumbled towards the bathroom. The light inside of it drenched everything in white and the red stood out even more so under its harsh scrutiny. I ran to the basin, staring into the mirror as I numbly switched on the basin and prepared to wash my injury.

But paused when I saw myself.

My skin was milky white, my blue hair messed up and my eyes wild. I stared at the reflection but could hardly recognise myself, realising that I no longer identified with the creature that had called himself 'Kuroko Tetsuya'. I suddenly stared at the red in the mirror, another idea coming to me seconds before a mad grin sprung to my face.

"I can cry again!" I laughed, grabbing my numb hand with my unmarked one and raising it to my face. I dragged the bloody fingers down my cheeks and felt my grin widen even more, seeing the new tear tracks that rested there. "There! All better! Everything's okay!"

My vision was hazy and I dully dropped my dead hand under the faucet, watching as the blood diluted and disappeared down the drain. All that remained was the half a dozen or so cuts that criss-crossed my skin and stuck out like a sore thumb. Dully, I reached under the sink for a bandage, wrapping up the weeping wounds rather ineffectively. Red soaked through but I paid it no heed, wobbling back to the kitchen to clean up the sink in there too.

A faint glow in the darkness drew my eyes towards the kitchen table where my glowing phone sat vibrating. A childishly happy ringtone sang throughout the room and I angrily picked it up, enraged that someone had dared to interrupt my solace of darkness and pain. Akashi's name flashed across the screen and I jabbed the answer button, staring down at the screen as a voice filtered out through the speaker.

"_Tetsuya,_" was all he said, his cool voice filtering out into my silent darkness.

"Akashi…" I murmured back, my knees shaking beneath me. I flopped onto one of the chairs heavily, my breath coming a lot harder than I had originally thought.

"_Tetsuya, you sound strange, what's going on?_"

I stared down at the red soaking through the bandages, some foreign thought in my head pointing out that it shouldn't be bleeding that heavily. "Nothing," I mumbled, feeling that horrible numbness begin to settle in once more.

"_Tetsuya, you are lying._"

"Hm… sorry…" I mumbled, feeling my eyes begin to grow heavier. "But… can't talk, Akashi… have to sleep now…"

"_You are not going anywhere until you tell me-_"

I ended the call, staring down at the empty screen for a few seconds before it began ringing again. A goofy smile spread across my face moments before my sense of balance disappeared and I fell from my chair. I crashed harshly into the floor but I didn't even feel it, my mind too far gone into sleep to notice anything other than the fact that the world was much darker than I last remembered.

**A/N- Kuroko isn't dead btw. He's just woozy from blood loss and shock. Thanks for reading!**


	11. Slipping Away

**Daybreak: Hey everyone! So I finally forced myself to sit down and write another chapter **** This thing nearly killed me. I started writing, hated it and then deleted the whole thing just to start again. I had to force myself to sit down and write this. You can thank the reviewers I had or else this wouldn't have been done so keep sending them in! Thank you to those beautiful people though :') omigosh! I finally hit over 110+ followers! And 9 faves! THANK YOU!**

**Oh, btw quick apologies- I seem to be making people hate Akashi XD which isn't too good since Akashi is like one of my fave characters and I frequently pair him with Kuroko cause they are just too kawaii 3 Anyway enjoy!**

**3****rd**** Person P.O.V.**

Kuroko did not go to school the next day.

Nor did he go to training with the other Miracles. Every time he tried to wake up and get to his feet, a wash of weariness would attack his body and he would slam back into the floor. It was fine with him; the fear of fighting against Akashi had been greatly lessened now that his body had gone numb.

He spent the next 24 hours fading in and out of consciousness, watching as a tiny crack of sunlight faded inside before it turned to moonlight. Every once in a while he would glance at the table where his phone was, seeing that it was lit up with someone trying to contact him. He'd merely shake his head and go back to sleep, willing his feelings to come back soon so that he could actually give a crap about the world.

It was only on the second day that he managed to drag himself out of his dark little rut and climb to his feet. The world wasn't anywhere near as distorted as it had been the day before but it was still pretty bad. Kuroko was light-headed but it put him in a better mood as he stumbled towards the sink to inspect his wrists.

He sucked in a breath.

The previously white bandages that he had haphazardly used to tie off the wounds were matted thickly with dried blood. He grimaced as he pulled them off, his stomach only growing more and more nauseous at what he saw.

"New bandages," he muttered quietly under his breath, tossing the destroyed linen in the trash before making his way to the bathroom. He didn't even want to acknowledge the angry red scabs that sliced across his white skin.

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

My eyes weren't quite seeing things clearly as I slowly walked to training.

I sucked in a long, woozy breath and blinked rapidly, trying to clear up my vision just as I came within range of the already practising team. Akashi was no-where in sight and I internally breathed a sigh of relief, placing my bag down on a nearby bench before slipping into the change rooms to get dressed. No-one noticed my movements and I was able to have a few more moments to prepare myself for what was to come.

"Oi, there you are, Tetsu!"

I blinked in dazed surprise, actually raising my gaze as I stepped back onto the basketball court. Aomine had paused in the middle of a stretch, a warm, child-like grin stretched across his face as he waved at me. My sight went blurry and I rapidly shook my head, trying to bring everything back into perspective once more. When I looked again, I found to my disappointment that Aomine's happy expression had been exactly what I had originally thought it was.

Just a delusion.

The real Aomine was standing in the middle of the court, hands braced on his hips and the remains of a scowl on his face. I grimaced lightly and began moving over to him, tossing the other warming-up Miracles a quick look in the process. None of them had quite noticed my presence yet so I continued to pay them no mind, not wanting any of their quick, cursory eyes to pick up on anything wrong.

"You weren't here yesterday," the tanned boy said simply, staring down at me with hard eyes.

"Yes," I murmured, nodding my head in acknowledgement of the fact. What else could I do? We both knew I hadn't come in yesterday and kicking up a fuss would only lead to something very, very bad.

"Akashi was mad," Aomine continued, eyeing me carefully as if expecting some kind of reaction from the words. I merely nodded back, my insides no longer churning at the idea of upsetting my captain.

"I'm sure he was."

Silence descended upon the two of us, neither of us really sure about what we were supposed to say next. I directed my eyes to the floor whilst Aomine raised a hand, running it through his short, dark blue locks in frustration.

"…You okay?" he asked eventually, gaze diverted to something on the wall 20 metres away.

I opened my mouth to answer him when I suddenly felt a harsh chill race up my spine. The back of my neck began to feel hotter and hotter until it felt like it was on fire, the rest of my body feeling as if it were as numb as ice. I turned my head, seeing the gym doors just closing behind a figure with blazing red hair.

"Tetsuya, I see you've chosen to join us today," Akashi hummed, his words falsely conversational as he took off his coat and draped it over a bench.

I nodded my head, dropping into a crouch as I began to stretch out my muscles. The world swayed in my vision but I ignored it, making sure to keep my gaze directed at anything but Akashi.

"I assume you were ill yesterday?" the redhead continued, voice light but probing. The words were barely even classified as a question; if it was Akashi speaking, it always turned out to be an order no matter how deceitfully pleasant the tone was. "You called no-one to let them know why you hadn't showed up. We were worried. And when I called… well… you hung up on me."

I heard the sound of a basketball being dropped and I raised my head, glancing back at the Miracles who had all frozen in their places at Akashi's apocalyptic words. Aomine and the others were staring at me with a mixture of confusion and horror, not quite able to process that I of all people had hung up on our captain.

"I had a very high fever," I murmured quietly, gently tugging on the wrist bands that just barely covered the bandages beneath if they were stretched out. "My mind was all over the place. I meant no disrespect."

Akashi hummed quietly under his breath, his red and golden orbs watching me in suspicion. The two of us knew I was lying, but it was only I that knew what the lie was about.

I was determined to keep it that way.

"Well, as you are here it means you must be fit enough to partake in your normal training menu," the redhead finally said, voice daring me to protest against him. I merely nodded back dully, my numb body not really listening to my head anymore.

But the second I began to run, everything went to hell.

My wrists were hurting awfully and my stomach felt as if it might leap out of my throat. I wanted to retch so badly but, since I hadn't eaten anything for the past two days, I was unable to. Instead, acid began to build up within my body and the loss of blood made it more difficult to breathe and concentrate. To put it simply, I couldn't do it.

On my fifth, slow jog around the court, I felt Akashi's eyes upon me as I paused to try and shakily catch my breath. I felt the scowl in his gaze and a moment later his voice called to me, urging me to hurry up unless I wanted my training doubled. I merely nodded my head and forced my body to continue, every nerve inside of my system screaming at me to stop. I ignored them all and just kept going, eyes too unfocused to even watch the others going for their basket shots.

It was around my tenth lap that my stomach gave another twinge and I skidded to a stop, leaning against the wall as my knees shook. Parts of my body were twitching and chills were racing through me, letting me know that something within me wasn't right.

"Tetsuya, keep moving!" Akashi called, the power and annoyance in his voice melding together into something truly terrifying.

I nodded my head wordlessly, sweat making my hair cling to my face. I harshly pushed myself away from the wall and continued to run, blinking enough to see that I was starting to attract a few glances from the other Miracles.

It was on my twelfth lap after surviving a few horrible fumbles and skids that my body went into shutdown. With a strangled whine my legs gave out beneath me, driving me hard into the polished gymnasium floor. Sweat slicked the ground beneath me and I felt my chest rising and falling at a sickening speed, the oxygen in my lungs scarcely bringing any comfort. My body gave the tiniest spasms and arms lay out by my sides, unable to do anything to pull myself out of this pitiful state.

"Oi, Tetsu!"

"Kuroko?"

"Kurokocchi!"

"Kuro-chin!"

The alarmed cries filled the air but they fell silent within a few seconds, a silent signal being passed to them by someone else entirely. Footsteps registered in my ears and I dazedly turned my head, seeing a familiar pair of red and yellow eyes staring down at me emotionlessly.

"Tetsuya," Akashi murmured, his voice as cool as ice. "Get up."

When I showed no signs of following his order, he merely reached down and grasped me by my shoulders, dragging me back onto my unwilling feet. A strangled cry left my lips as pain washed over me but I soon bit my lip, realising that no-one was going to help something as pathetic as I was.

Akashi leaned me against the wall and took a firm grip of one of my elbows, his eyes never once leaving the wrist band that coiled around my pale skin. Panic arched through my fried system and I tried to pull my arm away to keep myself safe but the limb refused to obey me. I could only watch with wide, frightened eyes as he removed the band and stared at the haphazardly wrapped bandages.

"What the hell are those?!" Aomine gasped, face growing pale as he stared.

"Kurokocchi was injured?!" Kise exclaimed.

"Who did this to you, Kuroko?" Midorima asked, concern masked but present nonetheless.

I tried to open my mouth to tell them it was nothing but one look from Akashi was enough to have the words withering on my tongue. He merely stared at the bandages with glowing, blank eyes, the expression scaring me far more than any of his evil smirks.

He undid the bandage and allowed it to fall to the floor.

And I watched as he truly became a monster.

His jaw clenched tightly together and my hand shook in his unbreakable grip. His heterochromatic eyes sharpened until they could have physically cut me if I had been looking straight into them whilst his body went deathly still. I could only hold my breath, too scared to say anything as everyone in the room just stared at the scabs lining my wrist in silence.

Kise was the first to break the silence.

"Kurokocchi…" he shakily laughed, face pale and eyes wide as he forced a trembling smile. "What… what are those…?"

"I…" I whispered, my mouth suddenly going dry. I licked my lips, trying to bring some moisture back so that the words could at least come a little easier. "I… accidently cut myself when cooking-"

"_Shut up!_" Aomine yelled suddenly, his voice slashing through me and making me seize up. I sucked in a breath, eyes wide as I stared at the shaking man who had once been my light. His dark blue eyes were filled with fury, anger radiating from every pore in his body. "Don't you _dare _fucking lie to us!"

I flinched at his words, unconsciously pushing further into the wall as if it might save me. My eyes darted over everyone's face and I slowly felt my heart begin to sink, something else inside me breaking at the looks they were giving me.

_Help me…_

It suddenly felt as if I couldn't breathe, as if I were drowning in the oxygen surrounding me. My lungs forgot how to work and, without thinking, I slashed my fingernails across the hand Akashi was using to grip me with. He dropped me in surprise and I attempted to move away.

But my legs gave out on me.

In the end, I found myself furrowed tightly against the wall of the gymnasium on the floor. I had never felt so small in my life, staring up at the five giants before me who were all staring at me in silence. I didn't know how to respond to it, nor did I know how to process Aomine's anger, Murasakibara's shock, Midorima's horror, Kise's nausea or even Akashi's silence. The redhead was the most cryptic of all, his reaction to my cuts almost driving me insane with how well contained it was.

"Might I ask…" Akashi eventually said, words drawn out slowly as if he were considering each syllable very carefully. "…Why?"

His heterochromatic eyes watched me with the intensity of a beast trying to figure out from which way it would attack its prey. It was an uncomfortable stare that let me know that every single action I did, that every single thought that raced through my mind, was all completely bared to him and his divine eye. I swallowed heavily before I gripped the elbow of the arm with the unwrapped wounds and helped to move it with the help of my other hand. Together, I managed to hold up one shaking palm, watching as Akashi cautiously kneeled down before me and took my trembling hand in his steady one.

"Tetsuya?" Akashi asked once more, voice bordering on gentle as his eyes darted to search both of my pupils thoroughly.

I sucked in a long breath, heart banging harshly against my ribcage as I stared back at him and finally said the words that had been haunting me these past few days.

"Akashi, I can't… feel your touch anymore…"

A beat of silence passed as my bottom lip quivered, my heart telling me that it needed to cry but my body being unable to respond. Nothing was working; nothing could carry emotions of senses throughout my system anymore. I released my elbow and my hand slipped out of Akashi's, slapping uselessly against the polished floor where it remained achingly still as if its owner were dead.

I finally raised my head and stared into those wide, red and golden eyes.

"…I can't feel anything anymore…"

**Daybreak: Ohh it is revealed **** hoping for some more twists and turns soon. Oh and a quick: **

***NOTICE*:**

**I am MAYBE thinking of turning this into a pairing. Please include in your review if you would like that and which character you want Kuroko to be with (if you don't he might be pushed towards Akashi XD). And… there might be… (-/-) smut… ehem… We're all perverts so no judgy! That's why I need your opinions! Anyway thanks guys **


	12. Who

***Daybreak*: Okay omg I'm sorry I left this for so long! I didn't update and I know this is a shit chapter but at least it is one. Thankyou to all of the wonderful reviewers I had and to the awesome people that got both my number of favourites and followers up above 100! Love you all! Had lots of feedback about the whole pairing thing with different ships and different views about whether there should even be any pairing to begin with. In all honesty I am a yaoi writer but I think I might just wait and see where this story takes me (like I said, I AM a yaoi writer, it probably will unconsciously drift towards it). But not before more Kuroko angst and feelings! Anyway please enjoy this quick update. (BTW couldn't be bothered editing before uploading XP)**

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

"When you hung up on me… this is what you were doing."

Akashi's words were not a question; they were a hard statement that left no room for argument. His grasp on me tightened and he shifted me on his back, trying to make it a little easier for him to carry me.

Not that I even weighed all that much to begin with…

Training had abruptly ended the second I had made the foolish declaration. I had only watched in numb silence as Akashi sent the others a death glare and ordered them to head home, something of which none of them argued to. I could see in the very vivid stares they were shooting me that none of them were happy about it but I made no move to stand up for them.

After all, they hadn't done it for me.

"Put me down," I muttered, my body not having the strength to fight against his touch. I may not have been able to feel the sensation of his skin on mine but it still made me uncomfortable for him to be this close. After all, this man was not the Akashi I had grown up with. He wasn't my friend. He wasn't anyone special to me.

He was just… absolute.

_What did that even mean anymore?!_

"No," was all he said as an answer, continuing to walk gracefully down the path to my house as if it were perfectly natural to carry someone just a few centimetres shorter than himself.

I let out a long, tired sigh, feeling my own chest relax against his tense back. I couldn't feel his heart thrumming against his ribcage and I couldn't feel the usual level of warmth that was exerted from him. I just couldn't feel any part of him. I was freezing cold and I was nauseous and tired and… and…

And I _hurt._

"Who are you?"

Akashi tensed up slightly and his step faltered for the briefest of seconds before he forced himself to continue onwards. "We've been through this already, Tetsuya," he murmured under his breath, heterochromatic eyes facing forward.

"Well, I'm asking you again. Who are you?"

"Akashi Seijuro," he answered, tone beginning to go flat as if the conversation was striking some chord inside of him. "And you? Who are you?"

"I dunno…" I murmured tiredly, finally beginning to feel the tension leave my limbs. I slumped against him, burying my heavy head into his shoulder. "Who am I, Akashi?"

"You're Kuroko Tetsuya," he replied, his grip on me tightening enough that even I noticed it. "Phantom Sixth Player of the Generation of Miracles. You love basketball and your goal for the past year was to defeat all of your old team members and make Seirin #1 in Japan."

"No, I'm not," I murmured, just seeing my apartment complex come into view from over his shoulder.

"And what makes you think that?" Akashi asked under his breath, almost as if he didn't really want to know the answer but had to ask anyway. He trudged up the stairs towards my place before digging his fingers lightly into the soil of the pot plant beside my door, extracting the spare keys I had hidden there on the off chance I looked myself out.

"…I failed my goal," I whispered after a long pause, watching his hand pause on the doorknob to listen to what I had to say.

"But you defeated most of them," Akashi enunciated slowly, his tone cautious as if he were dealing with a potentially dangerous animal that was frightened and ready to attack. "And Seirin came in second thanks to you."

I shook my head rigorously, my forehead brushing over the material on his shoulder in the process. "I failed," I whispered into his jacket. "…I failed… I failed…"

"Enough," Akashi ordered. I shut my mouth immediately, forever the loyal dog that'd had its obedience lessons beaten into it early. "You didn't fail, Tetsuya. Seirin were lucky to have you."

He abruptly opened the door of my pitch black apartment and switched on the light, the sudden brightness making me hiss out in pain. Akashi merely shook his head at my response and quietly took in the bare lounge room, not a comment passing the lips of the boy who I knew had grown up in a house most would kill for. He wordlessly carried me over to the couch and gently laid me down, staring down at me for a very long time before disappearing into another room.

"Where do you keep your blankets?" he called from down the hall.

"Cupboard on the left," I replied, slowly sinking back into the sofa cushions so that I could stare up at the ceiling. I hadn't seen much of it over the last couple weeks, having sat in the dark every night since Akashi had ordered me to quit Seirin. It felt so foreign, so unnatural; almost as if my skin might be set on fire if too much light hit it.

"When was the last time you ate?" the redhead asked as he re-entered the room, a couple blankets in his arms. He placed one on the floor before draping the other over me, tucking it in tightly to make sure there was no unnecessary skin showing.

"Dunno," I answered truthfully, continuing to stare wistfully up at the ceiling.

"Did you have something this morning?" he continued to ask, a touch of frustration entering his voice. I shook my head and he suddenly narrowed his eyes, a very dangerous look entering them. "What about last night?"

I shook my head.

"Did you eat at all yesterday?"

Another head shake.

"The day before?"

And another.

I couldn't help but stare at him as he clenched his jaws. My eyes slowly trailed down his body towards his hands where his fingers were twitching and curling into tight, white fists that looked as if they were ready to strike something.

"You want to hit me."

"What?" Akashi asked in genuine shock, a start breaking his tense form as he stared at me in horror. "Why on earth would I want to do that?!"

"I'm making you angry," was all I said as an explanation, shrugging my shoulders before refixing my attention to the roof.

Akashi let out a weary sigh before pacing back down the hallway, disappearing for a very long time. I kind of had a sneaking suspicion about what he was doing but I made no move to stop him, my ability to give a shit having long since evaporated. When he finally did reappear, it was with a glass of water in one hand and a plate of food in the other, his brows knitted together in a scowl.

"When was the last time you went grocery shopping?" he asked, irritation leaking into his voice as he came to sit on the floor beside the couch. He placed the plate down on the carpet before turning to face me, the cup still tightly wedged in his hands. "Come on, you need to get some fluids into your body."

He slowly pressed the rim of the glass against my lips and, after silently debating with myself about whether I wanted to accept his help, I took a long swig of water. The dryness on my tongue was an unwanted reminder of how long I had gone without proper nourishment and suddenly my stomach gave a loud gurgle, inspiring a smirk from the redhead whose point had just been made.

"Open up," he ordered as he reached back down for the plate. "It's just scrambled eggs since you didn't really give me much variety to work with but I got a feeling this is the best thing for your stomach right now."

He held a forkful up to my mouth but this time I hesitated for a little bit too long, the stretch of silence between us slowly turning Akashi's amused look into one of frustration.

"Tetsuya, this is ridiculous," he growled. "Just eat the damn food."

"I don't want to."

"You haven't eaten in at least three days!" he exclaimed, heterochromatic eyes burning straight into my skull. "It doesn't matter if you want to! If you're going to be stubborn I'll bloody pry your lips open and shove it down your throat!"

"…You're already doing that…"

Almost immediately, we both started into silence, the two of us both surprised by the words that had bubbled up from my throat. Akashi's eyes suddenly narrowed and he watched me expectantly, a silent order to continue forcing its way into my subconscious and making me elaborate.

"If you shove something down my throat…" I murmured, eyes beginning to feel heavy as I stared back into his piercing eyes. "…That'd be the same as choking me, right? Choking and killing me? But… aren't you already doing that…?"

I watched as the boy, my team mate, my _captain, _slowly swallowed before reaching forward silently, laying the back of his hand on my forehead. No touch was registered by my numb nerves and the only thing I could do was watch in interest, trying to figure out what it was that he was trying to do.

"You're not feeling well," he murmured quietly, suddenly looking as if he had aged a hundred years in a second. He turned away and promptly switched off the light before sitting back against the couch, his flaming red hair being the only part of his head I could now see. "Get some rest. You'll be thinking clearer in the morning. I won't feel as bad about slapping some sense into you then."

I dully watched him for a few moments as he grabbed the other blanket and curled it around himself, trying to get into a spot that he would be comfortable in.

"…Akashi?"

"Mm?"

"When you… when you brought us all back together…" I whispered, my eyes beginning to grow heavier as the darkness curled around me. "Who was it that you wanted me to be?"

Akashi stiffened at my question but he made no move to answer it, his body turning away slightly to break whatever connection we had shared barely a few moments before. I released a silent breath and allowed the darkness to claim me, feeling the night's cold embrace curl around me in a feverish hold.

At least the darkness would never abandon me.

**A/N- Just for the record, Akashi is not forgiven, heck, he is still in a lot of shit and he will most likely revert back to being a little shit soon. I just wanted this part in here to kinda touch back a little on the relationship I think the two of them probably would have had if the circumstances were different.**


	13. Falling

**Daybreak: Hey guys! Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! Had a good laugh with a few **** and kind of wanted to get a pointy stick and poke a few others XD So many lovely words and they each just make my day :D love you all xx **

**Hahaha and "Too Lazy To Login" (loved your name btw), that was especially sweet of you to say but don't put yourself down in the process **** I'm sure your writing is lovely, dear.**

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

When I woke up the next morning, Akashi was gone.

My head was fuzzy and, by the time I had forced myself into an upright position, I found my vision swimming. Blinking furiously to try and clear it, I slowly got onto my weakened legs, moving towards the kitchen in the hope of getting a quick glass of water to moisten my mouth.

Upon reaching the kitchen however, I found a plate of still-steaming scrambled eggs sitting on the table, the sight making me pause for a few moments until I realised that Akashi must have made me another plate of food not too long ago. I might have deemed it a sweet gesture if my heart hadn't already been so withdrawn from him.

After a while, my veraciously grumbling stomach forced me forward and I took a seat in front of the plate, staring down at the steaming mess of yellow whose smell was singing to me. Taking the fork that Akashi had set out for me, I picked up a small bit of it and placed it in my mouth, expecting to be overcome by my own need to eat

But instead, I spat the food straight back out.

The second the eggs had touched my tongue, I knew something had been wrong. Akashi was an excellent cook, heck, I doubted there was anything that he couldn't do perfectly, but absolutely no flavour came from the food sitting in front of me. I could smell the salty, buttery aroma of the dish and yet I couldn't taste it. I could see the waves of steam rolling off of it and yet I could feel no warmth on my tongue. My fork fell from between my slack fingers and clacked loudly against the porcelain of the plate, the sound reverberating around the painfully silent room.

The side of my mouth twitched.

I got to my feet, hands shaking severely as my vision wavered. I retrieved a knife from the cutting board and held my arm over the sink, slicing several lacerations into the unmarked skin above the older scabs. Crimson immediately welled to the surface and I felt a gasp of relief force its way through my clenched teeth. Sensations were rushing through my body, interrupting that horrible numbness that had been consuming me over the last few days.

"This…" I whispered, staring at the blood pouring down the drain. "This is living…"

**3****rd**** Person P.O.V.**

"Tetsuya is resting today."

"Ne, but, Aka-chin, you still haven't told us why Kuro-chin's arm was like that," Murasakibara whined, the giant sitting cross legged on the floor with a basketball balanced on his head. He was rolling a vanilla sweet around in his mouth, a small treat from a bag he had brought just in case the blue-haired shadow had come today.

In all honesty, each member of the Generation of Miracles had been severely worried about their team mate. It wasn't all that difficult to connect the dots. They all knew what cutting was and they all knew the kind of distress that the boy had been going through these past few weeks.

Well… at least they thought they had.

No, none of them could say that they had foreseen this kind of outcome. Kuroko wasn't exactly the jovial type and it wasn't as if he went out of his way to express any feelings that were outright positive but he had always been so sensible. He had never allowed his emotions to take a hold of him. Heck, at times he even went as far as chastising those that allowed their emotions to get the better of them. The idea of Kuroko, their team mate, their emotionless shadow, actually falling to the level of a regular human being was unthinkable.

He was supposed to be an untouchable angel.

"Tetsuya has yet to explain his actions and it shall remain as such until he confesses to my face," Akashi sniped back, tone as cold and sharp as a knife. His heterochromatic eyes were burning holes into the others' faces, making them all turn away in shame.

If Kuroko was an angel, then Akashi was…

Akashi was their Deity.

"You all have your set training menus. Now I expect you all to get them done by the time allocated or else your menus will be doubled for tomorrow," the redhead continued coldly, glancing down at his clipboard in disinterest. The other Miracles, though concerned for Kuroko's wellbeing, all scrambled to attention and rushed off to train, their fear for their own skins overcoming the worry that should have been at the forefront of their minds.

The worry for their falling angel.

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

The second they came into sight, I felt myself freeze.

It was like something from a nightmare, my weak body pausing mid-step as I stared at the chatting group across the park. They hadn't noticed me and yet I found myself unable to duck for cover, my eyes fixated solely on each of their animated expressions as if they didn't have a care in the world.

Seirin.

Riko and Hyuuga were at the front of their little group, pausing to lean down and undo the leash of a small black and white dog. They smiled back at the others as they each flopped onto the grass, small bags of food labelled with 'Maji Burger' within their possession. Little Nigou did a few laps around them, barking happily until the small puppy paused and turned his head in my direction. The dog yipped in excitement and raced across the park towards me, jumping up at me happily.

"Nigou…" I whispered, hand trembling wearily as I leaned down to pat his soft head. "…How've you been… boy…?"

"Nigou, boy, don't just run off like that!" a voice called out, followed by the sound of heavy footfalls. I looked up from patting Nigou and watched as Riko froze in shock, her eyes widening in recognition before they narrowed dangerously. "What are you doing here, Kuroko?" she asked venomously, her hand clicking for the dog to return to her side.

I nudged the puppy towards her and he looked back at me sadly, following the unspoken command without a show of defiance. The coach of Seirin picked him up and cradled him in her arms possessively, glaring at me over the top of his head with a look that would have hurt if I could still feel.

"…Just… walking," I murmured softly, shoving my hands into my pockets when I felt them begin to twitch. "Sorry to bother you all…"

I made to turn away but her voice stopped me in my tracks. "Why did you do it?" she snapped harshly, the full extent of the emotions in her words revealing just how much this answer meant to her.

Unfortunately, I had already helped them enough without gaining anything in return.

"Dunno," I answered back, a touch of truth in my words. In all honesty, no-one knew why we obeyed Akashi's orders, we just did without question.

"Don't give me that shit!" she exclaimed loudly, beginning to draw the attention of her team. I felt eyes beginning to burn into my skull but I ignored them, never once tearing my eyes from Riko's blazing orbs. "How dare you?! We accepted you into our team! We called you a _friend_! We worked so hard together and then you just… _threw us away! Why, Kuroko?!_"

I shook my head in amusement, a bitter smile twisting my lips as I mockingly held my hands up in surrender. "Sorry, got no answer that you'll like," I answered truthfully, beginning to back up towards the road.

Her eyes widened in surprise and I drank in that expression, finally beginning to see why Akashi liked setting people off so much. I couldn't feel anything but seeing other people as miserable as I felt just filled some empty cavern within me. I liked her reaction to my words.

Until… I found out that it wasn't my words doing that to her.

"Kuroko… your arms…!" she whispered shakily, pointing at the no-longer white bandages that lay thickly up both of my arms. I had probably gone a little too far with the knife but I just couldn't help the joy that feeling actual pain brought me. It was invigorating; it made me feel as if I were still alive.

I quickly brought my arms back down to my sides, having forgotten about their un-shapely appearance in my drunken state. With a grimace, I made to turn away, ready to bolt in a second-

Until I felt a hard hand clamp down on my shoulder.

"You're not going anywhere," a voice growled in my ear. I tilted my head back, seeing Kagami's shadowed face glaring down at me.

"Is that so?" I asked, genuinely curious about what it was that he wanted. Surely he and the others had turned their backs on me? Had I been mistaken about that point?

"Yeah, that's so, you bastard!" Kagami growled angrily, his hand suddenly appearing at my throat. I started in surprise, watching as his hand grasped onto my collar and twisted it. Even though I couldn't feel it, I knew he was unconsciously choking me, my lungs working a heck of a lot slower. "What the hell are you trying to pull?!"

"I don't… understand the question…" I wheezed out. My face remained blank but a mental frown was forming inside of my brain, wondering just how much strength Kagami was putting into his hold on me.

His eyes grew dangerously dark before he shoved me back, a little too much of his strength going into the action. Perhaps it had been an unconscious move by him or maybe it was due to the fact that my condition was less than favourable but his shove ended up knocking me off of my feet. I hit the dirt hard, my spine slamming straight into the ground and allowing pain to spiral through my body. My system went into shock and I remained frozen, shaky breaths hissing out from between my clenched teeth at suddenly being assaulted by sensations.

"Kagami!" Riko cried in outrage, her face twisting into something both filled with surprise and anger at his actions. Nigou whined and leapt out of her hold, leaping onto my diaphragm with enough force to knock me out of my daze. The puppy lapped at my face with his tongue but, just as the pain achingly dispersed, I found myself still unable to feel his touch.

Kagami paused for the briefest of seconds, uncertainty reigning over his features before he quickly snapped back into his angry persona. He leaned down and shooed Nigou away, grasping me once more by the front of my shirt so that he could haul me back onto my feet.

"If this is some kind of game to you, you better fucking say so right now!" he growled, bringing his face so close to mine that I could see my own dead face reflected in his eyes. Rage emanated from every pore on his body and I felt the waves upon waves of menace coming from him. "We aren't your play toys, Kuroko! We are real human beings and we have feelings! What you did on that court was…"

His eyes shifted away from me, his face twisting in grief as he glanced back at his team mates. I followed his gaze, drinking in the sad, pale forms that had been smiling barely a few moments before.

I did that.

"That was just disgraceful," he growled under his breath, finally returning his attention to me. "Do you… really despise us so much that you would do something that horrible to us? We thought of you as our _brother, _Kuroko!"

_The cold is seeping inside…_

"You made Riko cry…"

…_I can't feel my skin…_

"You hurt us, Kuroko."

…_I'm falling…_

"We cared about you and you threw it back in our face!" Kagami finally exclaimed, grip tightening so much on my collar that my windpipe closed off and I could no longer breathe. "Why would you do that to us?! We were always there for you through thick and thin! We were there for each other! Well… apparently not."

He relinquished his grip and straightened, staring down at me coldly.

I smiled back.

With a growl, he turned his back on me and stormed off, not even needing to say anything before the others were following behind him. A few tossed me a saddened glance but otherwise I was ignored as a whole, the last figure remaining by my side being Nigou. The little dog stood at my side, blue eyes locked with mine alone even as Kagami yelled at him to catch up.

"You better go," I whispered, reaching forward to rub at his head with my ice-cold fingers. I continued to smile, nudging the dog towards the waiting group where a certain redhead was glaring back at me. "They need you. Besides…" I whispered, seeing rather than feeling the tears that began to streak down my face. "You guys aren't my team anymore, remember? Don't worry about me, there isn't anything wrong. Otherwise Kagami would be here for me, wouldn't he?" I felt myself choke a little, having to hold up a hand to suppress some of the raging emotions inside of me. "We'd be there for each other… But he's not here so I must be fine!"

The dog whined and I gave him another little shove, refusing to pat him until he finally left. With a guilty look directed back at me, he trotted back over to Riko with his tail between his legs, no longer able to run back once the leash was once again connected to her collar.

And with one last piercing glare, Kagami walked off with the others.

"Help me…"

I sat there in shock, listening to the words that began to bubble up my throat and out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"Oh God… Kagami… don't go…!"

It was terrifying, it was out of my control, it was-

"Oh please, don't go! Kagami! Help me! I can't do this, Kagami!"

It was dead already.

And I felt myself begin to sink further into my despair.

**Daybreak:**

**Bad Author! No! Very bad Daybreak! You sleep on the couch tonight!**

**Hahaha XD sorry guys, I just HAD to start bringing in the Seirin/Kuroko angst. It was bound to happen eventually. I mean, I'm sorry but I like the idea of Kuroko feeling as if he is being attacked on every side due to the fact that this is such a common and relatable thing in real life. Really felt like updating so I threw this together to upload and I hope you all like it **

**P.S. Please don't hate either Kagami or Riko, just remember that they have NO CLUE about what he is going through and whole heartedly believe that he had just left them for shits and giggles. Oh and did you guys like the thing with Nigou. I mean, I know he's the 'team's dog' but I really think he is just Kuroko's and he will always be loyal to him first before anyone else.**

**PLEASE REVIEW! More reviews forces me to write **


	14. Help Me

**Daybreak: Hey! Sorry for the wait! So… this was hugely delayed due to the fact that another one of my stories (which I brought over from another site where it had a few hundred faves) got a really, really critical review that just… gargh literally destroyed any desire I had to write! It was an AU so of course the characters were slightly OOC (cause it was an Akatsuki one and if they are in our world and our murderous, it's not going to bloody work now will it?! -.-) Anyway… broke my heart, was really upset and I deleted it cause I just couldn't handle that being the first review I had where I was just verbally attacked…**

**Thanks for my reviews on this story though! Loved them :') Had the best laugh with some and I really appreciated all of your opinions about the different events **** it was really interesting learning about what set you off and what made you rush to either Seirin's, the GoM's or Kuroko's defence! Oh and relax btw XD you guys don't rile me up by telling me to update, I love getting reviews so long as they aren't an attack on me haha. Love you guys so much xx**

**Kuroko P.O.V.**

It had started to rain.

I knew it was cold, I knew it somewhere inside of my head and yet, as soon as the droplets of water soaked into my clothes and made my hair stick to my face, I couldn't feel it. I just felt twice as heavy, weighed down by both the water and my useless body that had failed me once more. I was trudging through the mud in my sodden clothes, every move of my legs feeling as if it were destroying me from the inside out.

The Miracles had left me.

…_My first light…_

Seirin had left me.

…_My… second light had…_

Once again, I'd had to endure the pain of disappointing someone important to me and then having them walk straight out of my life. I had disappointed the Miracles, let down Ogiwara and now I had destroyed my second chance at a team. I had destroyed every good memory I had come to develop with any of them, leaving me just a hollowed shell without a single nerve that was ready to connect with the outside world.

…_Help me…_

I felt my throat clench as I dug my fingers into my skull, wishing that I could just recede into the earth and hide from the world for the rest of my miserable existence. I was a shadow; I was a piece of life that people would forever try and escape and run from. I was nothing but a burden and, with every breath that filled my lungs, I felt myself growing more and more resentful towards the life I had been given. Why did I keep screwing up? Why was I hurting everyone?

Why couldn't I just die and save everyone from myself?

…_Someone… help me…_

I couldn't do this anymore. Surely, there had to be a limit? I couldn't suffer through anymore of this, could I? I couldn't even feel warmth, couldn't even taste a glass of water on my tongue. I did not thirst, I did not hunger; I did not feel the urge to continue on with anything even remotely life-sustaining.

_I can't do this! Someone, help-_

By the time I'd managed to focus enough on my surrounding to figure out where I was, the sun had long since set and it was twice as dark with the cloud covering. The streetlights illuminated my awful attire, mud and water having soaked into the light material of my clothes while patches of my skin had been dyed red and blue from the intense chill of the night. People moved around me but none even so much as spared a glance for my miserable self. It was like I didn't exist, further engraving my shadow-like status into my head.

I didn't _exist._

Familiar uniforms flashed through my vision and I felt my innards twist in guilt, realising that I was once again standing outside of Seirin. I could see the glow of the gym from where I was standing and, after watching the last of the distant, familiar figures step back into the gym, I found myself staggering closer.

What can I say?

Shadows were drawn to their light.

By the end of it all, I found myself slouched against the gymnasium wall, my form just a few centimetres away from the barely opened door. The voices of my old team mates filtered out, the pure warmth of them filling me up and making my heart ache twice as bad.

"So… what was up with you two and Kuroko today?"

_Hyuuga…_

"Dunno… Nigou just ran up to him… "

_Riko…_

"Did he tell you why he quit the team?"

_Kiyoshi…_

"Who cares?!"

…Kagami…

"He left us! That's all we need to damn well know!" the redhead continued angrily. A loud thud hit my eardrums and I grimaced, almost being able to imagine Kagami racing across the gym to make an enraged slam-dunk. "Just give up on him already! He isn't coming back!"

"Kagami…" I whispered, feeling my vision darkening at the edges. "I'm… right here…"

I chewed on my bottom lip as I listened to Kagami continue to argue with the others, my gaze slowly drifting down to stare at the blood-crusted and dirtied bandages that still lined my wrists. I raised a shaking hand, grasping at the edge of one of the bandages.

"…I'm… here…"

With a quick yank, the soiled pieces of material fell away, showing off the ugly, red-brown scabs that scissored my pale, bluish skin. I stared at the marks for a long time, missing that burning pain that had accompanied them when I had first cut into my skin.

And with a single slash of my nails, they all reopened.

I watched the thick, clunky blood ooze down my arms, turning the blue skin violet and making my vision sharpen at the sensation. Pain flooded my system and I sucked in a shaky breath, focusing purely on that feeling before my sanity completely slipped away from me.

I fell onto my side on the concrete, my body trembling as the ability to feel pain temporarily brought back all of my other senses. I could smell the blood, could feel the teeth-chattering cold, the emptiness of my stomach; all of it was driving me mad. I wanted relief, I wanted this cycle of not feeling and pain to finally end.

But this was my existence.

So how could it end… without…

The left side of my body began to fade into numbness again and I panicked, not wanting to return to that horrible edge that I was so close to going over. With a shaking, blood covered hand I pulled my phone out of my pocket, my vision wavering as I quickly punched in a number I had learnt off by heart.

**Kagami P.O.V.**

"Whose phone is that?" Riko asked irritably the second that an all-too-familiar ringtone filled the gym.

"Pretty girly ringtone," Izuki snorted, grinning from ear to ear as he dribbled a ball by himself. I tossed him a glare, only succeeding in making him cackle as I went to retrieve my phone from my bag.

"Didn't we agree that phones were prohibited during training?" Riko continued, scribbling something down on her clipboard, knowing her, it was probably a reminder to double my menu for tomorrow.

"Hey, no-one is stupid enough to ring me during training unless it's for an emergency," I growled back, dabbing at my forehead with a towel as I held up the ringing device. Before I could get a good look at the screen, it fell silent, leaving behind only a small reminder that I had missed a call.

But then I saw the name.

"Who was it?" Kiyoshi asked, jogging over to grab his water bottle. I felt myself stiffen, the device in my hand being held in a death-like grip.

"No-one important," I growled, switching my phone to silent before shoving it back into my bag.

Training continued on like normal for the next twenty minutes before Riko allowed each of us to have a quick cool off. We all went and slouched on the benches and, for lack of anything better to do, I checked my phone to see if a certain individual had tried to call again.

Oh, he had.

And he had messaged too.

I knew in that moment I should have been concerned but, due to my awful male pride, I found myself boredly deleting the missed calls before glancing at the text messages. I felt powerful in that moment, thinking that Kuroko had finally, _finally _seen sense and decided to beg for our forgiveness.

But… never could I imagine…

_Help me._

"Hey… guys…?" I called as I read the first message, alarm slowly filling my veins as I raised my head. "Kuroko's messaging me and-"

"He is?!" Riko called, her face lighting up before she could stop it. She raced over, prying the device from my fingers so that she could quickly scan over the first opened message.

I watched her face fall.

"What is this…?" she asked, turning to look at me with a confused look in her eyes. She fell onto the bench beside me, pressing the phone into my hands and staring at the device over my shoulder. "Open the other ones! Right now!" she snapped.

_Help me._

_Kagami, help._

_Help._

_Kagami, I need you._

_Answer, please…_

_I'm scared._

_Kagami!_

_Helpmehelpmehelpmehelpmehelpme-_

Riko snapped my phone closed, her face dangerously hard as she grabbed her own phone and punched in some numbers. She shot to her feet and chucked on her jacket, heading towards the door.

"Oi, where are you going?!" I called after her, ignoring the ignorant players behind us as I raced to follow behind her.

"To find Kuroko!" she snapped back, glaring across at me as she grasped the door of the gym. "That was him that called you earlier, wasn't it?! Why didn't you ring him back or tell the rest of us?!"

"Well…" I stalled, not exactly sure as to why I had ignored the person I had once called my best friend. "I… he… He left us, Riko!"

"And?!" she yelled, shoving my chest as hard as she could. Her eyes were practically on fire, burning me with the unbridled rage within them. "How much has he given up for us?! There's so much about Kuroko that we don't know and… and…"

She threw her hands up in frustration, her cheeks going bright pink as if something awful had just worked its way into her mind. She yanked open the gym door, her back to the darkness so she didn't see the single, pale set of knuckles that rested on the concrete just near the door.

"And we weren't there for him!" Riko finished, her words all but falling on my deaf ears as I stared wide-eyed at the hand. She continued to rant and rave, her voice not even registering as I tried to figure out just what it was that I was seeing.

Red.

I reached out slowly, grasping Riko's startled shoulder so that I could move her out of the way. She protested but I ignored her, slowly kneeling down at the entrance so that I could cautiously glance around the corner of the exit.

Red, blue and white.

It was all I could see.

Blue the colour of light teal adorning the short, dirtied locks of a figure that looked awfully familiar. The blue hair lay limp, stuck in muddy, wet clumps to a small skull. White skin the colour of sickly pearls with splodges of blue everywhere; it didn't look healthy at all.

And the red…

"…Ku…ro…ko…?"

I blinked, feeling an odd sense of alarm and fear building up inside of my core. My hands trembled and I moved through the doorway into the darkness, coming closer to the body that just lay limply where it had fallen.

"Kuroko?" I whispered, raising a hand to shake his shoulder. When there was no response, my alarm surged, almost completely overriding my mind as I shook his shoulder harsher. "Oi, Kuroko?!"

It was only after, in the chaos that ensued, did I see the message he had written across the concrete path with the blood trailing down his wrists. I'd picked him up, the violent screams and yells of worry from inside the gym turning to white noise in my ears as I stared at the two menacing words that were staring up at me.

_Help me._

And it suddenly felt as if the whole world had come crashing down on me.

**Daybreak: **

**Okay so… I didn't really like this chapter tbh :/ I was trying really hard to find some way for this all to continue and I found for that that I needed Seirin to find out. At least, they need an inkling of what is going on. So I devised this whole thing. The basic idea is that Kuroko's senses return temporarily after he reopens his wounds (if that makes sense? It's to do with the pain receptors of the mind).**

**Sorry it took so long to update anyway! Hopefully won't be so long next time! Please review, they absolute made my day and made me want to continue 3 Next chapter: Kagami and the GoM get reeeeaaaaaal angry at one another :3**


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